Héctor Lavoe

Héctor Lavoe was born to sing. When Latin music evolved from the boogaloo in the late 60’s, to the salsa boom in the 70’s, Héctor Lavoe was in the front row and was "The" singer of some of the era’s most representative songs. Héctor Juan Pérez was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on September 30, 1946, and was very much influenced by Latin singers he heard on the radio, such as Daniel Santos and Chuito el de Bayamón, just to name a few.

As he grew he became more and more involved with music, and was inspired by the great Puerto Rican sonero Ismael Rivera, as well as with Cheo Feliciano. These influences are very evident in Lavoe’s style: he sang the son and the montuno as maestros Rivera and Beny Moré did, but Lavoe’s natural talent for improvisation made him unique and very popular among salsa fans. At 17, Lavoe decided to leave the music school in Ponce and began focusing on a singing career in New York City.

In 1966, he was leading the Willie Colón Orchestra. Lavoe and Colón formed a partnership that made 14 albums, almost all of them jewels in the Latin music world. In 1973, Colón left Lavoe in charge of his orchestra, nudging him into a solo career. Without Colón, Lavoe’s solo attempts only confirmed his ability for singing and led to his inevitable rise to stardom.

The pressure of being an enormous salsa star was apparently too much for Lavoe. He had great difficulty in managing his success and suffered a great deal of personal obstacles on the way. But Lavoe’s fans never forgot him and he always came back to sing. In 1987, his last album "Strikes Back", was nominated for a Grammy award. In spite of the excesses, the fame, fortune and tragedy surrounding Lavoe, his life continues to symbolize the salsa era of the 70’s.

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