Toronzo was born in 1968 in Chicago, he grew up on the south side of the city, near Theresa's Lounge, there he heard tons of blues. Despite this, he started out as a musician in 1990 playing reggae music for a few years but soon the blues became his only vocation, although to pay bills drove a public service bus. Starting in 1996 he was a sideman for artists such as Tommy McCracken, Wayne Baker Brooks, L.V. Banks and Joanna Connor until in 2001 he founded The Cannonball Express , later The Chicago Way, the band that has backed him to date. After releasing the first self-released album "My Woman" (2007), Toronzo signed with Delmark Records which produced the following two albums, Leaving Mood (2011) and John The Conquer Root (2013). In 2015 Alligator records became his new label and in 2016 "The Chicago Way" became one of the best albums of his career. Three years later "The Preacher, The Politician or the Pimp" was released, second on the Chicago label, and brought international recognition to the artist and tours around the world were constant. "Shut Up & Play!" It culminates a trilogy of albums through Alligator Records and is another major work by the most imaginative and forceful contemporary guitarist in the city of blues dreams.