Biography
Reid Martin Basso Entertainment & Show Business Developer.
Basso's entertainment career began early, at the age of nine, when he was gifted a trumpet mouthpiece. But, growing up in Florida poverty in the 1970s, Basso's single mother couldn't afford a trumpet. That did not keep Basso from practicing. He used the mouthpiece to develop his pitch and tonal recall, while strengthening his embouchure. Soon, Basso began writing lyrics and chord progressions, influenced greatly by the sounds he heard of the day: mainly, funk, rhythm & blues, disco and soul.
Eventually, when a trumpet came into his life, Basso would spend hours practicing daily. Upon entering high school, he was already beyond his fellow student peers. By the time he graduated, in 1985, his interests in other arts developed as well; namely theatre, electronic music, and writing. His talents lead him into baccalaureate pursuits at San Jose State University, from which he graduated in Music Performance. It was while attending San Jose State his performance abilities blossomed. He ran his own theatre company, the Spartan Roving Players, and established Bay Area Modern Music Connection, a public relations business for local entertainers. As Basso grew, he evolved into a local promoter, announcer, disc jockey and live performance emcee.
Amidst it all, Basso's appreciation of modern pop and synth dance continued to be a source of inspiration. Basso met fellow SJSU student and electronic music programmer, Sid Maestre. The two struck a musical kinship with Maestre creating music and Basso fronting their efforts as the singer and lyricist. Their band, Detsky Mir, existed from 1989 through 1992 when they went in different musical directions.
During this phase, Basso began his own musical composing. But, as life's tempo increased, Basso's love of entertainment contended with fate: In 1994, Basso's grandfather, Neil Martin, a professional golfer, sculptor -and World War II tank artilleryman under Gen. Patton- took ill. Just as military service had taken his grandfather to Europe some fifty years previously; Basso likewise was Europe-bound when he set his entertainment pursuits aside to enter the military, as homage to his grandfather.
Basso, was trained in international resource and force protection. Like his grandfather, he was recognized early as a skilled weapons marksman, quickly advanced from small arms to mobile heavy weapons like the MK-19. He was subsequently deployed to the Middle East in support of Gulf War I, and then to the civil war ravaged nation of Bosnia (formerly Yugoslavia) as a US Military soldier assigned to NATO as a peace keeper helping implement the Dayton Peace Accords in the destabilized war zone.
Basso, decorated and Honorably discharged from active military duty in 2000, is a disabled veteran living daily with entrenched PTSD, as well as several physical disabilities incurred from his military service.
Basso's mother, who had become homeless while Basso was away in the military, was difficult for the former artist, and now disabled veteran to locate. He eventually did, however, and took his mother off the streets by setting her up in a modest apartment in Stockton, CA. Two months later, in June of 2001, she died; body riddled with cancer. She was 58.
For the next four years, Basso plunged himself into writing as a means of processing his experiences in the military, his grandfather's, grandmother's and mother's deaths, his divorce and subsequent distant relationship with his son, and more. Out of that period, came Basso's 2005 autobiography, "The Confessions of a Jilted Superstar, In His Many Conversations with God" (AuthorHouse, Inc.) Published under a pen name of R. Martin Basso, the jagged, rebellious work was reviewed favorably and even appears on the retailer's "Listmania Best of" fan reviews.
10 years later, in 2015, Basso was asked to turn Jilted Superstar into an audio book; something he'd never before considered. Enrolled now in graduate school at San Francisco's Academy of Art with a focus in Producing, Basso let his semester end and returned to the recording studio and began recording.
The Jilted Superstar audio book is due out in 2016, read by the author.
In addition to producing, writing and acting, Basso's career endeavors have included film, radio, web media, screenplays, spokesman positions and show biz investor relations. Additionally, Basso advises arts clients on identifying and embracing emerging audience markets. Basso, now re-married and "slightly better adjusted to the offending outside world" has returned to the arts; a journey re-undertaken years after he'd begun. Today, Basso is a champion of social causes personal to him, for which he advocates passionately: military Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder recovery; mentally ill homeless senior citizens, and youth autism. Additionally, Basso dedicates himself to developing community-centric arts initiatives. Time permitting; he also selectively mentors a private cadre of developing artists. Basso's natural predisposition to promotions finds him spearheading the arts PR cooperative, Three Doves Media, LLC.
