Mambo King : Tito Puente
Tito Puente is the King of Latin Music, who created his first studio track “ Ran Kan Kan”. Ernest Anthony Puente Jr, commonly known as Tito Puente, with his Timables and vibraphone was an American musician, songwriter, Bandleader, percussionist, and record producer of Puerto Rican descent, famous for his dance-oriented mambo and Latin Jazz compositions from his 50-year career, and his most famous song “Oye Como Va”. Born on 20th April 1923, in the Spanish Harlem in New York to Puerto Rican parents, and died after undergoing heart surgery on 1st June 2000 aged 77. Tito Puente’s parents were not musicians, but form the aged of 7, he spent so much time drumming on pots and other objects in his house that the neigbhours complained who convinced his mother to get him real music lessons. He started with piano, but loved percussion and began playing the drums at the age of 10. He and his sister formed a duo song-and-dance act. He started performing as a professional musician when he was 13. After serving in the Navy during WWII in 1945, Puente studied music at Juilliard in New York City. By 1948, he formed the Tito Puente Orchestra and is considered a music legend. In the 1950’s and the following decades, Puente released popular albums that mixed a variety of styles and musical rhythms and published over 100 albums, in his career, winning 5 Grammys, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and Key to New York City.
Tito said “ If there is no dance, there is no music. I’ve played all kind of styles with all types of musicians, and all I ever wanted to do was to become a good musician and create good music. My mother put me to study immediately because they saw that I had a lot of talent musically and they put me to study piano.”