Héctor Lavoe (born as Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez, September 30, 1946, Ponce, Puerto Rico - June 29, 1993, Manhattan, New York), was a Puerto Rican salsa singer. Hector LavoeHe performed in some of the most prestigious concert halls featuring Salsa, as well as Jazz events like the Newport Jazz Festival. His recordings have also garnered him many awards and gold albums. His success is attributed to his musical expression of his unique jibaro salsa flavor and his love of Puerto Rico. Early life Héctor was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico to Pachita and Luis Pérez, and raised in the Machuelito barrio of the city. He was inspired early in life by his musically-talented family. His grandfather Don Juan Martínez was a singer of controversial songs, which often went from vocal conflict to physical confrontations. His uncle was a well-known tres player in Ponce. His mother Pachita was well known among her family and townspeople for her beautiful singing voice. His father Luis supported his wife and eight children by singing and playing guitar with trios and big bands. Héctor would also be influenced by Puerto Rican singers such as Jesus Sanchez Erazo -also known as "Chuíto el de Bayamón"- one of the island's most successful folk singers, and Daniel Santos. Later in his life, he would have the honor of recording songs with both artists. Héctor attended the local Juan Morel Campos Public School of Music where the saxophone was the first instrument he learned to play. Among his classmates were Jose Febles and multi-instrumentalist Papo Lucca. (Jose Febles wrote most of the horn charts for "Rican-Struction", considered by many to be the best album to ever come out of the New York Salsa scene). One of his teachers would strictly demand good diction, stage presence and manners from him - something that suited him well later on - claiming that as a bolero singer, Héctor would become a superstar. By the age of 14, however, Héctor dropped out of school and sang with a ten-piece band. He moved permanently to New York on May 3, 1963, against his father's wishes, since an older brother had moved to the city and later died of a drug overdose. It would take many more years before Héctor was able to reconcile with his father. Héctor Lavoe (mid 1970s) [edit] Arrival in New York City He was met by his sister Priscilla upon arrival in New York. The first thing he did in New York was visit El Barrio, New York's "Spanish Harlem." Héctor was disappointed in the condition of El Barrio which contrasted with his vision of "fancy Cadillacs, tall marble skyscrapers and tree-lined streets." Hector stayed at his sister's apartment in The Bronx, instead. 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, which 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. Impressed with his dynamic voice and stage personality, the group offered him the spot of lead vocalist, which he accepted. Later in his career, he joined other better-known 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 star Willie Colón. Pacheco, co-owner of Fania Records and its recording musical director, suggested Colón to record Lavoe on a track of Colón's first album El Malo, since Colón first candidate for fronting the band had quit and the second had died in a street fight. 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 didn't know how to cope with the sudden success. [edit] Music [edit] The Willie Colón years The Willie Colón band had a stream of successful albums and radio hits. Their first, and rather minor hit, "Juana Peña", was followed by an adaptation Colón did of a Ghanan children song, "Che-Che-Colé", which became a massive hit. A later song, along the same vein, "Ghana' É", followed. The band was chiefly marketed using the image of a punkish, gangster-like Colón featured in album covers in a "wanted" ad, or pointing a pistol to the head of a hijack victim. Lavoe, on the other hand, was marketed as a street- and fashion-smart Puerto Rican country bumpkin. The contrast between the two personalities had its appeal among the band's fans, relatively younger than the average Latino audience for salsa. Previous to the Christmas of 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. The album, which also featured Puerto Rican cuatro player Yomo Toro, is regarded as an all-time salsa classic, still selling strong after more than 35 years after its recording. It also gave the Colón band its signature song, "La Murga", an ode to Panama's musical festivals that transposed a rather simple bass guitar line to trombone, producing a by-now classic salsa riff as a result. While enjoying his newly-found success, Héctor became severely addicted to narcotics and prescription drugs.[1] His addiction resulted in him showing up late for gigs, and 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 habit. Lavoe's lack of professionalism was often neutralized by an affable onstage presence, very much reminding that of a stand-up comedian. Colón would later remark that Lavoe would try to talk his way out of any audience's discontent with him, and very frequently succeeded, to his amazement, "nine times out of ten". Other attempts would backfire; for example, Lavoe and Colón would have to hitchhike from Connecticut to New York City once when Colón's car was vandalized by a hostile audience after a humorous Lavoe rant onstage went sour. 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!" (an euphemism for "This one's for you, motherfucker!")[2] Milton Cardona, Héctor Lavoe and Willie Colón (1970s)(1970s) The Colón band had other major hits, such as "Calle Luna, Calle Sol", and the santeria 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. [edit] 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. 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 #1 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 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 jíbaro controversy song, "Joven contra viejo", featured the two renowned "party animals", 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. It was a major Christmas hit in Puerto Rico in 1979. Lavoe recorded "Juanito Alimaña", another Tite Curet song, which has since inspired rappers such as Voltio and Tego Calderón in recording songs based on Lavoe's interpretation. Lavoe's final hit, "El Rey de la Puntualidad" (The King of Punctuality), is a humorous takeoff on Lavoe's constant tardiness and occasional absenteeism from shows. [edit] The Lavoe improvisational style Lavoe was regarded as a quick improviser, and his sometimes irreverent sense of humor permeates his "soneos", or improvisations, in many of his salsa songs. He often interjected original songs with pieces of Puerto Rican and Latin American popular songs. Example of this are quotes of Julio Brito's "El Amor de Mi Bohío" with which he intervened on the Fania All Star's "Quítate Tú Pa' Ponerme Yo", and of the Pedro Flores song "Echa pa' alante, cobarde" (made famous by Daniel Santos) on the Colón hit "Todo Tiene Su Final". An integral, much-criticized part to Lavoe's personal style, besides his sense of humor, was a penchance for misogyny, which was strongly criticized by feminist leaders of the day. In at least two Lavoe songs (the album version of "Mi Gente" and his solo hit "Bandolera") he suggests beating women up; in at least two other songs ("Abuelita" and "Qué Bien Te Ves", his personal homage to Sánchez Erazo, whose voice and style Lavoe imitates on the record) he strongly suggests that women should be considered as troublemakers. Another trait in his improvisations was fatalism; Lavoe constantly made references to him soon being "absent" (dead) or gone, although the epitome of these, the song "Canto a Borinquen", was recorded verbatim from the Ramito original (and, since Ramito suffered often from clinical depression and later committed suicide, such lyrics probably reflected Ramito's state of mind and not Lavoe's). A sense of braggadocio was common to many Latino singers of the time; Lavoe made constant self-promotion a part of his personal style in many of his songs. Lavoe (both with Colón's band and solo) would become so successful in Latin America that many of the Puerto Rican idioms and phrases he would interject to his songs would become common-use phrases elsewhere; phrases like "Te conozco bacalao, aunque vengas disfraza'o" (a phrase Puerto Ricans use to denounce merchants who try to pass pollock for codfish in markets) and "Radio Bemba" ("Lip Radio", the gossip mongering within a community) are used frequently elsewhere in the continent since quoted by Lavoe on his records. [edit] Spiritual awakening During his travels, Héctor went to Honolulu, Hawaii and ran into a young man who went by the name of Juan, from SOS Security. Juan eventually became his mentor, providing him with spiritual and metaphysical guidance. Lavoe later found out that he befriended a very powerful yogi in disguise who was trying to open Lavoe's spiritual vision. Héctor established himself as a successful singer within a relatively short time and was recognized as a legend in his own time. With a new found spirituality, Hector eventually sought reconciliation with his father. On a visit to Puerto Rico, his father received him with open arms. Despite his success, Héctor's life was plagued by tragic events, emotional turmoil, and pain. The deaths of his mother in law, father and his own son, as well as being diagnosed with HIV, the disease that progresses to AIDS, were enough to push him to his limit. [edit] Cancelled Concert & Attempted Suicide On the night of Saturday, June 25th, 1988, Hector was scheduled to perform at the Ruben Rodriguez Colliseum in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. He was to be the main attraction in an array of Latin legends that were to appear that night: Ray Barretto, Luis "Perico" Ortiz, Johnny Pacheco & Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez. However, that night happened to coincide with several patriotic events throughout the island, and there were other big name salsa acts that were performing free of charge. Sales for the concert were so low that promoter and future RMM Records founder Ralph Mercado decided to cancel the concert. Hector, defiant to the end, and knowing that it would be one of the last times he would perform in Puerto Rico, decided to, against the promoter's wishes, perform in front of the public who did pay to see the now cancelled concert. Depressed by this turnout from his fanbase, and the culminiation of other events, led Hector to take care of these problems the only way he could. The next day, on June 26, 1988, Hector attempted to commit suicide by jumping off the ninth floor of the Regency Hotel Condado in Puerto Rico. No exact reason for this was ever determined. He survived the attempt, but from that day forward, he would never completely recover, as AIDS began to ravage his body, due to his drug abuse throughout much of his life. [edit] Last Years & Legacy In 1990, Hector performed for the last time (and with the Fania All Stars) in New Jersey. It was to be a comeback concert, but Hector could not even sing several notes to his famous song "Mi Gente". After this, Hector was out of the limelight for good. Héctor died penniless on June 29, 1993 in New York City. The cause of death was complications from AIDS.[1] He was initially buried in a plot in Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx which ironically is the burial place of both La Lupe and Billie Holiday. Until 2002, Lavoe's grave was within walking distance from La Lupe's, however, in June 2002 the bodies of both Lavoe and his son (who died in 1987 at the age of 18) were exhumed per his family's request. They were later reburied in his native Ponce, along with his wife Nilda who passed away a few weeks prior to the reburial. Lavoe's spirit and legacy still lives on. As recently as 2007 the municipality of Ponce based a city-wide cultural fair on Lavoe and his legacy, featuring salsa bands, graphic artists and music and memorabilia collectors. The main stage at the La Guancha boardwalk near Ponce's port is named after Lavoe. Meanwhile, singer La India is producing her own biopic of Lavoe's life, with actor Raul Carbonell in the lead role, titled The Singer.Produced By Anthony Reyes, Directed by Anthony Felton, and Edited by Thomas M Amaro.