Antonio Mercado is an American Latin singer and songwriter of Puerto Rican descent. He was born in Bronx, NY and in 1979 moved with his family to Hartford, CT where he was raised. At an early age, Antonio was inspired by music and started singing in the glee club and was a part of the school band, where he played the piano and trumpet. Soon after, he started writing poetry and it was through this that he found a passion for songwriting.
In the early 1990’s, at the age of 17, Antonio formed and created the Latin freestyle group,
"Touch of Quality" AKA "T.O.Q.", releasing their first big hit, “My Summer Love”. The group released many other hits such as “Victim", “Don’t Let Me Go",
and “I Want You”.
In the late 1990’s, Antonio joined the Latin freestyle group, "Da Fellaz" releasing their hit songs
”Where Does That Leave Us”, “Why”, and
“If Tomorrow Could Be”.
In 2000, Antonio decided to take some time away from his music career to focus on other aspects of his life. Years later, still having a passion for music, Antonio came back to the music industry.
He released his first single as a solo artist,
”Falling Deep For You ~pg. 8” in January 2020, followed by "My Last Breath ~pg. 14" and most recently, "Let Me Love You ~pg. 29".
Antonio and Jay Rivera, the original members of Touch Of Quality reconnected and released,
"(Be) My Summer Love" in July 2020, twenty-six years after their first release, "My Summer Love". Since then, they have been working together on many projects which includes music, along with a morning talk show, "Morning Coffee with Touch Of Quality". The talk show completed its first season in December 2021.
Antonio wrote most of the songs released throughout his music career and has also written songs for other freestyle artists.
