I was born in Los Angeles, CA. Music was always heard loud and clear in our house while growing up. My parents and sisters always had the radio on, and my older brothers played in bands, and they rehearsed at our house.
All the instruments stayed setup, including the drum set. I would rush home after school, knowing that I could get home before my brothers would, to play the drums along to the CTA album (and I would get in trouble for doing so :).
I think I received my first drum set at the age of 8 or 9 years old. You couldn’t take me off the kit! I learned all by ear at that age, playing along to every single album we had in the house. I thought it was normal to play air drums in the classroom or on top of books..oops.
I played in H.S. rock bands and later switched over to percussion. My parents were not too happy with me becoming a musician until the day I got called to play with one of their favorite artists, LOL..then they wanted backstage access.
As my musical years continued, I had the honor to record and perform with many amazing artists and all styles of music, and to perform on all the major TV shows.
Aretha Franklin, Sergio Mendes, Christina Aguilera, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Nicks, Natalia LaFourcade, David Sanborn, Marcus Miller, and recorded on Grammy Award winning songs. I also performed on The Voice, SNL, The Grammys, The Emmys, Latin Grammys, George Lopez, “Lopez Tonight” and other shows.
You can visit my website to read more, http://www.yslas.com
Receiving the call in Feb 2018 to work with Chicago brought me to tears! It felt like full circle, I mean, CTA was the reason I became a musician !! WOW. I pinch myself before every Chicago gig, and Guess What: dreams come true and “we can make it happen.”