Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez (30 September 1946 – 29 June 1993), better known as Héctor Lavoe, was a Puerto Rican salsa singer. Lavoe is considered to be possibly the best and most important singer and interpreter in the history of salsa music because he helped to establish the popularity of this musical genre in the decades of 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
His personality, style and the qualities of his voice led him to a successful artistic career in the whole field of Latin music and salsa during the 1970s and 1980s. The cleanness and brightness of his voice, coupled with impeccable diction and the ability to sing long and fast phrases with total naturalness, made him one of the favourite singers of the Latin public.
Hector LaVoe was born Hector Juan Perez in Ponce, Puerto Rico. He attended the Ponce Free School of Music. By the age of 14, he was singing with a band, and he opted to drop out of school. "El Cantante De Los Cantantes", as he is affectionately known, came to New York at age 17 with the dream of making it big. With no formal singing training this skinny kid from Barrio San Antonio in Ponce, caught the ears of Johnny Pacheco. Pacheco was amazed at the raw talent this young kid had. Because Pacheco already had a singer (Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez) and during those times you only needed one singer. Lavoe only sang sparingly on weekend gigs.
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| Colon & Lavoe |
Later Pacheco, who at this time began to recruit musicians and singers for his new Fania label, introduced to Lavoe a young talented trombonist who was in need of a singer. This gifted trombonist was Willie Colon. Colon was in the process of a new recording with Al Santiago's Alegre label when Pacheco saw the potential of Colon and included him on his roster. And as they say "the rest is history".
Lavoe and Colon collaborated for eight years and for more than 10 albums. Willie Colon and Lavoe combined salsa, originally Afro-Cuban music, with Puerto Rican bombas, plenas, orisa, baquine y aginaldos, cumbia, merengue, and other Latin American music, as well as Jazz. Hector Lavoe sang every aspect of his culture and religions from Catholicism to Santeria. Many hits like "Che Che Cole" to "Rompe Saraguey" to "El Todo Poderoso" to "Mi Gente."
Hector and Willie parted ways and most people thought that Lavoe could not make it on his own. They were proved wrong as Lavoe became even more popular. With hits like "El Cantante", "Periodico De Ayer", "Plato De Segunda Mesa" and many others Lavoe was at the top where he belonged.
He also performed with the Fania All Stars for several shows. One of the group's notable performances took place in the Kinshasa province of the Zaire (modern day Democratic Republic of 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.
The Fania All Stars recorded several of their tracks during 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 of 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 with the band in fifteen different productions, serving as vocalist on twenty-three songs.
Although he had fame, Hector also had to face many tragedies that followed him throughout his life. His mother died when he was only four years old. Later on in life, he suffered the death of his brother in a car wreck, the accidental death of his son who was only 17 years old, the murder of his mother-in-law, followed by the death of his father. The weight of these tragedies plus the alcohol and drugs addictions appeared to have taken its toll. The death of his son was the biggest blow that would finally break his heart.
Hector must have been emotionally drained, for in 1988, Hector jumped off the ninth floor of a hotel room in El Condado. Some thought that it was an attempted suicide and others said that the drugs and booze were finally affecting him. Some close to him though, say that Hector had seen a vision of his son appear outside the window, asking him to come. It was another tragedy added to his life. Hector was never the same again. He later appeared in clubs to sing a few songs, but his health continued to deteriorate until he died in a Manhattan hospital at age 46, from complications due to AIDS. He was buried near his son's grave in Saint Raymond's in the Bronx. In 2002 the bodies were exhumed at his family's request and reburied in Ponce, Puerto Rico. His life was depicted in two separate films, 'El Cantante' (2006) and 'Lavoe' (2011).
(Edited from Wikipedia & Christian Rozo bio)