Meet Stephanie Diane Aurora & Martin Gonzales | Husband and Wife Owners and Musicians of Aurora Bleu

We had the good fortune of connecting with Stephanie Diane Aurora & Martin Gonzales and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stephanie Diane Aurora & Martin, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I have always loved performing. Even as a kid I loved being in plays, performing for others, making people laugh. I have loved singing for as long as I can remember. I didn’t get my first chance to sing in front of others as a performer until I was 18. Truth be told it was kind of a big surprise because I had never really sang for anyone aside from my late grandmother at that point because I was super shy of singing in front of anyone. From the first the first moment I hit the stage singing “On My Own” from the Broadway musical Les Misérables in my high school theater class I knew in that moment I want to be on stage singing. It felt natural and like a piece of me came alive on stage that was always a part of me. My husband and co-owner Martin Gonzales who is the bass player in Aurora Bleu grew up in music life. His father Domingo Gonzales and his fathers brothers played in a Tejano band together and he started at a young age playing bass and performing with them. He has always had a love of music and bass.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Our band formation is a story of both our journey to our own musical entertainment business and also our love story. Me and my husband met in 2007 thru music. We were introduced thru our cousins who are also musicians in the summer of 2007. We started out just jamming with them at my cousins house after work and on weekends. We started dating a few months after our introduction. In 2009 we formed Aurora Bleu deciding together we wanted to really try and make a band that suited my vocals and my style better. I have always been an old soul with music loving the crooners and old jazz vocalist of the 40s and 50s. I grew up a big Elvis fan as well introduced to me by my grandmother. It was not particularly easy finding musicians that were willing to venture out beyond the standard bands in DFW that cover classic rock, blues, and country. I knew I wanted a horn section and just a unique blend of vintage and retro styles. I never felt any desire to throw myself into one genre. We learned not to give up on what we knew would work for my voice and passion despite the difficulty of finding suitable people to cover the many styles we cover. We eventually found great musicians who really enjoy the challenge it is to do our unique blend of music. Many of our musicians have been with us since the very start when we were playing super late nights for catfish nuggets and free drinks just trying to get our name out. We married in Oct 2011 with the band kicking off fairly well after a few years of hard work and has been a great rising success since. We learned what a great blessing it can be to have a life long partner by your side in your work life and in your day to day life. We learned a lot about and from each other working together to build the band brand, both of us think we wouldn’t be anything with out each other. Now we have a flourishing band, that brings a truly unique blends of vintage and retro styles of big band, swing, jump blues, jazz and more to the DFW area. Both our marriage and our band are going strong and just can’t imagine how else life with open up for us in the future.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Both of us are lover of food. We are big fans of hibachi’s and I have been unofficial having my birthdays at hibachi’s since early 2000. One of the best long standing hibachi’s is Japanese Palace in Fort Worth. We also love seafood and sushi, so Umi Shushi in Arlington and Pappadeaux’s is one of our fave top spots to eat. I am a big lover of wine and winery’s are a big lover of Aurora Bleu so we would have to hit up our top Winery spots in the metroplex, Lost Oak Winery, Casual Friday Wines, & N2Vino Winery. To hang out we are laid back sit in the sun kind of people. We love to get out when we can to camp or lounge at local state parks or Lakes. When we have time off you will almost definitely find us in the sun. When we can we love the view of bike riding along the trinity river, we try to make time for that as much as we can during the year.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I think both of us would like to thank God and our family for always supporting us and God for giving us the talents we posses. I want to thank my late grandmothers for listening to me sing every night when no one else knew. My husband would like to thank his Father and uncles for letting him be a part of their music journey and introducing him to music. I want to give a special thank you to Mrs. Cheryl Penland of Trimble Technical High School for choosing a musical my Senior year in high school and allowing me to grace the stage with my debut performance to a public audience. She may never know just how much she launched my dreams of being a singer to life for me.

Website: www.aurorableu.com

Instagram: instagram.com/aurorableu

Twitter: twitter.com/aurorableu

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Youtube: youtub.ecom/aurorableu

Image Credits
Jason Waite Photography, Jezenia Marie Photography