Band Members

Karina is an Ecuadorian American beauty who has graced stages large and small all over the world. Her roots are in Latin music, but she has worked with R&B and Hip hop artists such as Bryce Wilson of Groove Theory and Color Me Badd.

Karina knew from a young age that she wanted to be a singer. As a child, she would spend time sitting around the neighborhood with her friends singing Disney songs, pretending to be Ariel, and dreaming of being a singer.

After high school, she decided to follow her dreams . A student by day and a singer by night, she became a member of all Latina girl group named Mami. In her time with the group they were the opening act for popular Latin groups such as The Barrio Boyz. They participated in events sponsored and promoted by Emerging Artist Enterprises, Miami’s Calle Ocho, The Puerto Rican Day Parade (NY/NJ and CT), and 103.5 WKTU sponsored event Beat Stock.  Continuing to pay tribute to her Latin roots, Karina was a member of a Merengue project called LHB led by well-known music director Henry Jimenez. 

After many years of touring, recording, and live performing, Karina decided to put music on hold and focus on raising a family. Now she is back as a lead vocalist for Soul Cruisin.  Karina is a rare talent and a privilege to hear in intimate club or special event settings.

Jo Ann has been singing as young as 3 years old.  Her father would bring jo Ann to the studio to record her singing some of his favorite hits from his generation.  

By the time jo Ann was 12 years old, she and her sister were singing constantly at home and eventually her mom and dad found them a manager.  He wrote his own songs for them and called them “the Kittens”.  They recorded their songs with a professional band in a studio and were put under contract by “Murbo Records” one of their records made the “Billboard” and “Variety Magazine” record charts.   The hit side of the record was played by radio DJ Cousin Brucie and Hal Jackson.  They also performed live at palisades amusement park while sharing the stage with popular artists such as “the Crystals”.

They also sang at “the world’s fair and various other amusement parks and stage shows.

Later, Jo Ann married and has 2 boys, both talented singers and musicians.  She continued her singing by herself and performed at various clubs throughout New York and New Jersey.

She eventually became the lead vocalist for a band called “45 rpm”.  From there she was a founding member of a 9-piece band “classic 45” and lead female vocalist of a 4-piece group called “Back in Tyme”.

A professional trained singer, Jo Ann has had a passion to perform with an R&B soul band.  She was asked to join “Soul Cruisin” by Laz Cabanas.  Her dream to sing songs by artists such as Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Lopez, Santana, Meghan Trainor, Donna Summer and Linda Ronstadt to name a few, has become a reality.

Her soulful singing and entertaining presence has made its mark in the North Jersey community.

Ross Buffa has been teaching music and performing for most of his life and loves to bring energy anywhere he goes.  He has been playing instruments since the age of 9, including saxophone, clarinet, flute, piano, bass, drums and many more.

He attended the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University for music education where his focus was classical saxophone.  He has been teaching in the Ridgefield school district for 11 years and teaching privately for most of his life.

Ross has performed in many diverse groups over the years, Ross also dedicates his talents to his church and serves in the band at the Emergence Church in Roxbury NJ.

Besides playing instruments, he also loves to imitate many performers on stage including Michael Jackson and Prince.

Darryl Clark started with classical guitar at 8 years old and took up the bass guitar when he was 14. Darryl’s introduction to jazz bass came in his teens from legendary bassist Earl May (played with Miles Davis, Lester Young, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, and Mercer Ellington, Miles Davis) while a student at the Jazzmobile in NYC.

Darryl has performed with jazz artists Nat Adderley Jr, Tina Fabrique, Steve Marley, Marshall McDonald, and Kirk Tamura. Darryl’s latest project, DC Fusion an R&B/Jazz group, recently released their first CD “West Coast Dreamin”.

He has played at a variety of venues such as Lincoln Center, Trumpets, The Bitter End, Cleopatra’s Needle, Flushing Town Hall, the Priory, The Borgata, the Hedley Club in San Jose as well as various festivals in the NYC metropolitan area.

Darryl has been integral to the music ministries at Bethel AME, St Matthew AME youth prison ministry currently is at Bethany Church in West Orange. We are honored to have such a distinguished musician as part of the Soul Cruisin family.

What do Dionne Warwick, Cissy Houston, Melba Moore, Roberta Flack, Jennifer Holiday, Fantasia and Justin Timberlake all have in common? ….  James Coley Jr.

 James Coley Jr., also known as “Whoop,” was born in Paterson, NJ on October 3, 1985 to James and Gisele Coley.  At the age of 3, he started playing drums at the Christ Temple Baptist Church, where he served as a drummer for 13 years. In high school under the tutelage of William Pete Nelson and Paula Roberson, he expanded his musical vocabulary, learning how to sight read, interpret jazz, blues shuffles, playing classical and big band music. James further refined his musical skills as a member of “Jazz for Teens.” During formal musical training James never strayed from his gospel roots. He continued playing at his church where members witnessed over the years, his personal and musical growth.

In 2002, James played for the first Night of Healing in NYC where it was the first anniversary after 9-11. He played for Fred Hammond, The Clark Sisters, BeBe, Cece Winan, Dionne Warwick, Cissy Houston, and Donnie McClurkin. After a successful introduction to a national audience, James was given the coveted position of orchestra drummer for the MsDonald’s Gospelfest., a prominent gospel concert and competition that happens every year to showcase local and national talent. He has occupied that drummer seat for over 10 years and currently still holds it. Over the years holding that seat, he has accompanied Hezekiah Walker, T.D. Jakes, Melba Moore, Yolanda Adams, Roberta Flack, Jennifer Holiday. This year, 2017 was a real eye opener when he shared the stage with Israel Houghton and New Breed and Fantasia.  James loves his Gospel roots and playing live but decided to share his skills by becoming a studio drummer where he has recorded more than 7 studio albums over a 5-year span.

In 2015, he join the blue/rock band, Tomas Doncker and the True Groove All-stars. Since then, James has occupied many stages, festivals, workshops, off Broadway plays, and other musical ventures. James has been an inspiration to up and coming drummers.  He is full-time a school teacher and in his spare time teaches drums, sight reading and does clinics once a year. When he doesn’t have the sticks in his hand, James loves to run the mountain, play football and basketball.   We are very lucky to have James.  He brings a level of musicianship which fans and patrons have grown to expect from Soul Cruisin.

Musicologist, teacher, piano player, whacky sound generator, sax player, the man in black, Bruce is our music teacher in residence (he actually is a music teacher) and overall funky guy.

Rumor has it that 30 years ago, while at the Jersey Shore, Bruce got two miniature mermaids tattooed somewhere on his body and legally changed his name to Ray Ban. But no one has been able to confirm either.

Bruce is a serious musician with deep roots in classical music and Jazz. He has the unique ability to bring out nuances of a song that adds authenticity to the performance.

Besides performing over the years with some of the top bands in the tristate area, Bruce runs a recording studio, and has worked with some of the biggest names from the fifties to hip-hop. Ray Ban is as funky does.

Born in Brooklyn NY, Les has been a touring musician all of his life. Over the years, Les has toured and shared the stage with the likes of Al Kooper and South Side Johnny among others.

Les begin his musical journey on the drums and later switched to bass. His professional musical journey started at ground zero of the California music scene – Haight -Ashbury with “Home Cookin”. The success of “Home Cookin” took Les on his first national tour which lasted well over two years.

Back in California, Les decided to stay on one side of the coast fo a while.  During his “West Coast” period, Les played with “Main Squeeze” a 10 piece horn  band performing at some of the largest private events up and down the west coast. Later in his musical career, Les moved to New Jersey where he joined and toured nationally with the “Big Boss Sausage Band”.

Les is one of the original members of Soul Cruisin. He left the group when he moved to the Caribbean to hang on the beach, relax and drink a Corona or two. We missed him when he left, but now he is back and we are glad he is!

Pepe is a unique talent, and it is a true privilege to have access to such a talent at a local level. What makes Pepe different is not just his skills as a bass player but his voice.

There are many truly great singers that you may have heard  at weddings, in your local clubs but every once in awhile you get to hear one that really makes you take notice. Pepe has such a voice.

Whether he is singing a Motown classic, a modern day hit, or an upbeat Salsa number in Spanish, his voice has a subdued anguish that speaks to people on many emotional levels.

His skills as a bass player are unmatched regardless of style. His soulful lines have entertained audiences for over 4 decades. We are lucky to have Pepe on the Soul Cruisin team.

High powered executive by day, loving mom by night, and soul singer on the weekends, Gina Hernandez is the ultimate modern day multitasker who puts family first but still finds time to pursue her passion for music.

Gina’s passion for music started at a very young age. While her young friends sat around listening to the pop hits of the day, Gina was absorbing everything from classical music to musical theater. Her interests and curiosity in music led her to formally study music.

Gina is not just any singer, she is a classically trained vocalist, who can handle any style of music and can sing in in a variety of languages including Spanish and Italian.

A professional singer since age 16, Gina has worked in numerous wedding and Italian-American bands including: Clockwork, Desiderio, Magic Moments and Splash.

Gina is married to Pepe Hernandez, our lead singer. They have two wonderful and gifted children, accomplished jazz pianist Isabella, age 11, and budding percussionist, Graciella, age 7.

Warren has 25 years of professional singing experience and is guranteed to put on a show every time. His versatility is only surpassed by his talent.

Warren can easily go from singing classic ballads at an afternoon cocktail reception to steaming up the clubs with down home blues all in the same day!

Warren has an extensive song repertoire that includes Swing, Pop, R&B, Blues as well as Standards.

Warren not only brings great showmanship, and vocals to Soul Cruisin, but adds a sensitivity and style to each performance that only a true artist can deliver.

Anthony Rodriguez is a native of New Jersey, USA. He studied for 7 years as a self-taught musician, and at the age of 16 became the pianist for his home church in NJ. In 1997 Anthony was gathered with a group of talented musicians that had the same interest in music.

Together with his friends they would go into countless hours in recording sessions just to compose and record ideas that someday would become an album. At the age of 17 he was introduced to Juan Gonzalez, pianist for Super Star singer Marc Anthony. Anthony was under Juan’s supervision for a while; he led Anthony into learning music theory, music production, and piano. At the same time Anthony had auditioned for a Salsa band called Ebenezer, which accepted him as a member right after the rehearsal. His experience in the live scenario has improved along with his musicianship.

While proceeding in the music industry in 2005 Anthony participated and produced the soundtrack for BET’s Telly Award winning movie Isaiah’s Touch, among other productions. Anthony decided to take his talent up a notch by developing his own Instrumental album in 2006, releasing an album called “Harvest onto the Lord.” Harvest onto the Lord has a lot of inspirational value and meaning to it. Harvest unto the Lord project became one of the Best Sellers at CDBaby, an Independent Music Distributing Company. In 2009 Anthony recorded and produced his second project “Keys to the Kingdom,” a Caribbean Jazz album which also became a Best Seller after its re-release in 2012. On 2015 Anthony released the first Latin style remix to Shackles from Gospel Artists, Mary Mary. This record reached #1 on Amazon Music. And on 2016, Shackles was nominated for Best Latin Song in the Independent Music Awards. With his musical experiences, Anthony began motivating different groups to “Do What They Love.” Anthony has spoken in Boys and Girls Clubs, Keynote Speeches for the 2014 Career Day at Union City High School, and working together with a Latino No-profit organization that works in motivating students through NJ and NYC. After speaking at different places, Anthony released his first motivational and entrepreneurial book, “The Musician.” His book ranked Bestsellers on Amazon more than once. Being a freelance artist made Rodriguez learn the value of promotion, marketing, managing & directing. All of these responsibilities led him to become more than just a part time musician. ​
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Today, Rodriguez has an impressive client list which includes performances with many Christian and Secular Artists such as: Brenda K. Starr, Rene Gonzalez, Samuel Hernandez, Ezequiel Colon, Puchi Colon, Bani Munoz (Canzion), Jose “Papo” Rivera, Orquesta Xariz, amongst other artists.
Furthermore, Anthony has also had exposure in many our familiar mass media entertainment. TV Appearances include: Mapiando on Telemundo 2006, Maria Antonieta from Telemundo Cada Dia, Despierta America on Univision, among others. Radio appearances include: The most popular Latin Christian networks Radio Vision Cristiana amongst other stations within the US. After experiencing great moments both live and studio Anthony opened a private piano workshop, which entails him to teach every aspect towards music according to his own experience. Later becoming a Music Entrepreneur and developing a firm that would represent all of his endeavors, “Anthony Rodriguez Music Group.” Anthony is also known to give and share events with Charity “American Cancer Society”, and is also affiliated with Autism Speaks and World Vision, and his newly founded non-profit, “The Anthony Rodriguez Foundation.” His major achievement in giving back was running his first Half-Marathon back in 3-21-15 for Ultra Michelob sponsored by Better Life.