Steve Carrillo – 2026 Mariachi Music Hall of Fame Inductee
Steve Carrillo was born in 1958 in Tucson, Arizona where at age 8 he began studying the guitar. A year later, he joined a church group called Mariachi Los Changuitos Feos—the first youth mariachi in the United States— as a guitarist and singer.
Los Changuitos had a rule that its members must leave the group upon graduation from high school. When Steve’s older brother Randy graduated in 1971, he and several other ex-Changuitos Feos members formed Mariachi Cobre. Steve played with both groups until he left the Changuitos in 1974, by which time he had switched from guitar to trumpet.
Over the next decade, Mariachi Cobre gained increasing visibility, performing at many high-profile events, including engagements at Disneyland and, later, at Walt Disney World, earning them a reputation as the country’s most emblematic Mexican American mariachi ensemble. In 1981, Cobre attended the San Antonio International Mariachi Conference, which resulted in them taking the mariachi festival concept back to their hometown of Tucson. A year later, they were contracted to play at Disney World’s EPCOT Center in Florida, where the group has remained for the past 44 consecutive years. Steve has directed Mariachi Cobre since his brother Randy’s retirement in 2018.
The Carrillo brothers and Mariachi Cobre played an important role in the founding of international mariachi conferences in Tucson, Las Cruces, and San José. They have performed and adjudicated at many mariachi festivals and conferences in the US and Mexico, sharing the stage with groups like Mariachi Vargas, Nuevo Tecalitlán, Mariachi de América, Mariachi 2000, Los Camperos, Los Galleros, Sol de México, Reyna de Los Ángeles, Nuevo Tecalitlán Femenil, and Mujer 2000.
Mariachi Cobre has recorded and/or performed with artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Lola Beltrán, Vikki Carr, Ana Gabriel, Ángeles Ochoa, Guadalupe Pineda, Aída Cuevas, Lila Downs, Pedro Fernández, Pepe Aguilar, Doc Severinsen, and Arturo Sandoval. Furthermore, Cobre has concertized with over 85 symphony orchestras in the US and Mexico.
In addition to directing and playing full-time with Mariachi Cobre, since May of 2023 Steve has been performing in concerts with the all-star ensemble “Leyendas del Mariachi.”
With great honor, Mariachi Spectacular de Albuquerque inducts Steve Carrillo — mariachi trumpeter, vocalist, group leader, and educator extraordinaire — into its illustrious Hall of Fame.
