Biography of Hector Lavoe
Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez, born in Barrio Machuelo of Ponce, on 22 September 1946, he moved to New York City in the mid 60's in search of fame and fortune as a singer. He worked for several months with the orchestra's percussionist Francisco "Kako" Bastar, achieving record first voice choir in 1967. The album would go to the market next year. But during the same 67, their union occurs with trombonist and arranger Willie Colon, who is in their first album as lead singer, "The Bad". Hector, with his street style and challenging, be the perfect complement to the music of Columbus, loud and bold for the purists in the fusion of rhythms.
From 1967 to 1973 the pair produced albums like "The Great Escape", "Cosa Nostra", "I kill", "Judgment" and the volumes of "Assault Christmas". They are vital for the solidification of salsa as a genre. Songs like "Juana Peña", "Barrunto", "Calle Luna, Calle Sol" and "La Murga", are just some of their successes. After nearly a decade together, Willie, unable to keep up with Hector's life given the revelry and excess, decides it's best to follow every one by his side. This coincides with, or perhaps encourages, the strategy for the Fania label, launching the most successful singers as soloists, sections of the orchestras that gave him fame. The split is amicable and not definitive, because Columbus was the producer of several of the most successful albums of Lavoe's solo career, which began in 1975 with the album "The Voice". We follow the LPs "It depends on you" and "Comedy" produced hits like "newspaper yesterday," authored by Tite Curet Alonso, and the song that would define him forever "Singer" written by Ruben Blades. He was also one of the stellar performers the Fania All Stars, going around the world with them.
During the early years of the decade of the 80's the genre suffered the loss of popularity. Lavoe continued recording, but his drug addiction and personal tragedies, undermined his self-esteem and mental clarity.
The death of his mother and his son, breaking his legs when he jumped out the window of his apartment which was burned, was paying to torment trying to appease through drugs. All this culminates in 1988.
After the suspension of a concert in Bayamón that marked the resumption of his career on the Island, Hector is launched on the tenth floor of a hotel in County. Fails suicide, being wounded and unable to return to singing. Útlimos spending his years in New York, where developers profit from presenting concerts when he could barely speak. Despite the sales generated by their records, Lavoe was in precarious financial condition. He died at the Saint Claire on June 29, 1993 in New York City.
Hector Lavoe is considered the best sonero after Rivera Ismael "El Sonero Mayor". His charisma on stage and people skills elsewhere, he won the idolatry of his fans, he almost venerated as a martyr of the rumba and the street. "Hector's mother he could Mentar everyone and the audience laughed, it spoiled," said Willie once famous for being late to their commitments, Hector would say. - "I'm late, the audience gets very early "in his song" King of punctuality. " Willie Colon describes it as. - "University graduate with high honors Refraneo, member of the Grand Circle of Soneros, street poet, honorary villain, hero and martyr ... that's why I named it" The Singer of Singers. "Cheo Feliciano noted. -" was the darling of the Fania All Stars. "Tito Curet Alonso, the dean of the composers of salsa, says emphatically. -" a singer Lavoe was "sui generis" because he never imitated anyone, was one of a kind, the category of Ismael Rivera and Benny More ".
In 1999, Pablo Cabrera joined producer David Maldonado to create the play "Who Killed Hector Lavoe". The production, originally filed by the Puerto Rican Travelling Theater, featured the stellar performance of sonero Domingo Quiñones.
Domingo Quiñones was replaced on stage by actor and singer Raul Carbonell son. The latter won plaudits for his outstanding characterization. With the arrival of 2000, "Who Killed Hector Lavoe" was the answer in the Fine Arts Center of San Juan Quiñones, achieving all praise for the new production.
As anticipated, there is the possibility that "Who Killed Hector Lavoe" is to become a film production soon.
