Héctor Lavoe, Was a Puerto Rican Salsa Singer
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Héctor Lavoe Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez (September 30, 1946 – June 29, 1993), better known as Héctor Lavoe, was a Puerto Rican salsa singer. Lavoe was born and raised in the Machuelo Abajo sector of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Early in his life, he attended a local music school and developed an interest inspired by Jesús Sánchez Erazo. He moved to New York City when he was 17 years old.On his first week living in the city, he worked as the vocalist of a sextet formed by Roberto García.During this period, he performed with several other groups, including Orquesta New York, Kako All-Stars, and the Johnny Pacheco band. In 1967, Lavoe joined Willie Colón’s band and performed as the band vocalist. With the Willie Colón band, Lavoe recorded several hit songs, including “El Malo” and “Canto a Borinquen”. While working with the Willie Colón band, Lavoe became addicted to drugs and began to be late habitually when scheduled to perform with the band. Colón eventually decided to not work with Hector on stage but they still remained good friends and made music in the studio together. Lavoe moved on to become a soloist and formed his own band, where he performed as lead vocalist. As a soloist Lavoe recorded several hits including “El cantante”, “Bandolera” and “Periódico de ayer” (“El Cantante” was composed by Ruben Blades, “Bandolera” by Colón and “Periódico” by Tite Curet Alonso.) During this period he was frequently featured as an invited vocalist in the Fania All Stars, and recorded numerous tracks with the band. In 1979, Lavoe underwent a deep depression and sought the help of a high priest of the Santería faith to attend to his drug addiction. After ashort rehabilitation, he relapsed following the deaths of his father, son and mother in law.[2] These events, along with being diagnosed with HIV, affected Lavoe to the point of attempting suicide by jumping off the balcony of a hotel room.[2] Lavoe survived and recorded an album before his health began failing. Lavoe died on June 29, 1993, from a complication of AIDS. He was met by his sister Priscilla upon arrival in New York.[9] The first thing he did in New York was visit El Barrio, New York’s “Spanish Harlem.”[9] Héctor was disappointed in the condition of El Barrio which contrasted with his vision of “fancy Cadillacs, tall marble skyscrapers and tree-lined streets.”[9] Hector stayed at his sister’s apartment in The Bronx, instead.[citation needed] The first week in New York, Héctor was invited by his friend Roberto García, a fellow musician and childhood friend, to a rehearsal of a newly formed sextet.[9] When he arrived they were rehearsing the romantic bolero Tus Ojos. The lead vocalist was singing off key, and as a gesture of goodwill, Lavoe showed the vocalist how it was supposed to sound.[9] Following this event, the group offered him the spot of lead vocalist, which he subsequently accepted. Later in his career, he joined other groups in the genre, including Orquesta New York, Kako All-Stars, and Johnny Pacheco. To distinguish Héctor from other Latino singers, a former manager made him adopt Felipe Rodriguez’s moniker “La Voz” (“The Voice”) and turned it into a stage name, Lavoe. In 1967, he met Salsa musician and bandleader Willie Colón. Johnny Pacheco, co-owner of Fania Records and its recording musical director, suggested that Colón record Lavoe on a track of Colón’s first album El Malo. Given the good results, Colón had Lavoe record the rest of the album’s vocal tracks. Willie never officially asked Lavoe to join his band, but after the recording, Willie said to him, “On Saturday we start at 10 p.m. at El Tropicoro Club.” The album’s success significantly transformed both Colón’s and Lavoe’s lives.Colón’s band featured a raw, aggressive all- trombone sound that was well received by salsa fans, and Lavoe complemented the style with his articulate voice, talent for improvisation, and sense of humor.Héctor received instant recognition, steady work, and enough money to provide him with a comfortable lifestyle. According to Lavoe, it happened so fast he did not know how to cope with the sudden success. The Willie Colón years In late 1970, Colón and Lavoe recorded the first of two “Asalto Navideño” albums, featuring Puerto Rican folk songs such as Ramito’s jibaro song “Patria y Amor” (renamed “Canto a Borinquen”) and original compositions. While enjoying his newly found success, Héctor became severely addicted to narcotics, namely heroin, and prescription drugs.His addiction resulted in him showing up late for gigs, and he eventually did not show up to some scheduled performances at all. Although Colón would eventually cut ties with him, he tried to help Lavoe seek assistance to try to quit his drug habit. Hector Lavoe performing in New York City circa 1985. Lavoe’s lack of professionalism was often balanced by an affable onstage presence, very much resembling that of a stand-up comedian. Another famous incident has a middle-aged audience member at a dance request a Puerto Rican danza from Colón’s band, to which Lavoe responded with an insult. The requester then gave Lavoe such a beating that he almost ended up in the hospital. The request was finally honored in a later Colón record, “El Juicio” (The Trial), when he added a danza section to the Rafael Muñoz song “Soñando despierto”, which Lavoe introduces with a deadpanned: “¡Para tí, Motherflower!” (a euphemism for “This one’s for you, motherfucker!”) The Colón band had other major hits, such as“Calle Luna, Calle Sol”, and the santería influenced “Aguanilé”; a Pacheco song recorded in the studio by the band, “Mi Gente”, was better known in a live version Lavoe later recorded with the Fania All Stars. During that year Lavoe started a romantic relationship with Carmen Castro. Castro became pregnant but refused to marry him because she considered him a “womanizer.”Lavoe’s first son, José Alberto Pérez was born on October 30, 1968.[11] On the night when José was baptized, Héctor received a call informing him that Nilda “Puchi” Román (with whom he also had a relationship during the same period he was with Castro) was pregnant.[11] Héctor’s second son, Héctor Jr. was born on September 25, 1969.Following this event, the couple married, and following a request by Román, Lavoe kept the amount of contact with Castro and José Alberto to a minimum during their marriage. Lavoe goes solo In 1973, Willie Colón stopped touring to dedicate himself to record production and other business enterprises. Lavoe was given the opportunity of becoming bandleader to his own orchestra; he and his band traveled the world on their own, and he would also be a guest singer for the Fania All-Stars. As part of these invitations, Lavoe was present at several shows with the group. One of the group’s notable presentations took place in the Kinshasa province of the Zaire (Peoples Republic of the Congo) where the group performed as part of the activities promoting The Rumble in the Jungle, a boxing fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman for the heavyweight championships of the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association.[citation needed] The Fania All Stars recorded several of their tracks in live concerts. Lavoe was part of the group when the All-Stars returned to Yankee Stadium in 1975, where the band recorded a two volume production entitled Live at Yankee Stadium. The event featured the top vocalists in Fania and Vaya records, Lavoe was included in the group along with Ismael Miranda, Cheo Feliciano, Justo Betancourt, Ismael Quintana, Bobby Cruz, Pete “El Conde” Rodriguez, Santos Colón, and Celia Cruz. Lavoe recorded songs in fifteen different productions with the band serving as vocalist in twenty-three songs. Besides recording songs with the band, Lavoe was also present in three movies filmed and produced by Fania Records; these were: Fania All Stars: Our Latin Thing, Fania All Stars: Salsa, and Celia Cruz with the Fania All Stars: Live in Africa. His Colón-produced albums would be best sellers; cuts from these albums were hits in Puerto Rico and the rest of Latin America: Lavoe’s recording of Tite Curet Alonso’s “El Periódico de Ayer” was a number one hit in Mexican charts for four straight months. It was also a strong hit in several countries of the Caribbean and South America. As a producer, Willie Colón had Lavoe record what would become his signature song, the Ruben Blades-authored song “El Cantante” against Blades’ protests (Blades wanted to record the song on his own.). Blades has repeatedly acknowledged since then that, Lavoe raised his song to classic status and that Lavoe’s performance was much better than what he would accomplish with it. The Lavoe song “Bandolera” was a strong seller in Puerto Rico, despite strong protests from Puerto Rican feminists about its lyrics and soneos (Lavoe twice offers the song’s subject a beating). Lavoe’s recording of the Nicolás Guillén poem “Sóngoro Cosongo”, set to salsa music, was another major hit. The controversial jíbaro song, “Joven contra viejo”, featured Lavoe and Daniel Santos settling their age- based differences on-stage not without a heavy dose of humor and (yet again) Yomo Toro’s cuatro music as a backdrop. Another major Christmas hit on Billboard Greatest hits for tropical genre in 1979 includes a song from singer/composer Miguel Poventud “Una Pena En La Navidad” in the same album titled “Feliz Navidad”.