Héctor Lavoe

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Héctor Lavoe, born Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez, was a Puerto Rican salsa singer. He was born in 1946 in Ponce, Puerto Rico, into a musical family, and had lessons at a music school there. In 1963, at the age of sixteen, he moved to New York. There he sang in various groups, including with Johnny Pacheco, before his big chance came.

Music and breakthrough

In 1967 he became the singer in Willie Colón's band. Together they made hits such as El Malo and Canto a Borinquen. Later Lavoe went solo and formed an orchestra of his own. As a soloist he recorded El cantante, written by Rubén Blades, Bandolera by Colón and Periódico de ayer by Tite Curet Alonso, among others. He also frequently appeared as a guest singer with the Fania All-Stars, the star ensemble of the Fania label. His solo work ran from Cosa nuestra (1969) and La voz (1975) to Comedia (1978), the album on which El cantante appears.

Influence

Lavoe was known for his clear, sharp voice, his good diction and his sense of improvisation over the rhythms of the band, with brass, percussion and piano as the main sound. His life was marked by addiction and illness, and he died in 1993. Many experts count him among the most important and influential singers of salsa, and a large part of the genre owes its fame in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s partly to his voice.

Listening

• 
  El Cantante · Héctor Lavoe, 1978
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 1969Cosa nuestra
• 1969Guisando (Doing a Job)
• 1972Asalto navideño
• 1973Asalto navideño, vol. II
• 1975La voz
• 1976De ti depende
• 1978Comedia
• 1979Feliz Navidad
• 1979Recordando a Felipe Pirela
• 1980El sabio
• 1981Que sentimiento!
• 1983Vigilante
• 1985Revento
• 1987Strikes Back
• 1992Asalto navideño, vol. II
• 1993The Master & The Protégé

Mentioned in other articles

• Salsa GenreThe label Fania, with Johnny Pacheco, Willie Colón, Héctor Lavoe and Celia Cruz, made salsa big in the 1970s.

See also

• De ti depende