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Tito Rodríguez

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

Pablo Rodríguez Lozada, better known as Tito Rodríguez, was born in 1923 in Santurce, Puerto Rico, and died in 1973. He was a singer and bandleader. At thirteen he was already singing in a group, and in 1940 he moved to New York, where his brother Johnny, also a singer and composer, was already living. He worked as a singer and bongo player for orchestras including those of Eric Madriguera and Xavier Cugat, served a year in the American army and afterwards played with José Curbelo.

Music and breakthrough

In 1947 he founded his own orchestra, Los Diablos del Mambo, later Los Lobos del Mambo and finally The Tito Rodríguez Orchestra. His best years were the 1950s, at the height of the craze for mambo and cha-cha-cha. He also recorded boleros, sones, guarachas and pachangas. In New York he was the great rival of Tito Puente, a friendly rivalry that became an urban legend. He discovered Cheo Feliciano, and performed at the Palladium Ballroom alongside the orchestras of Machito, Tito Puente and Charlie Palmieri.

Influence

At United Artists he devoted himself to boleros. Inolvidable, a bolero by the Cuban composer Julio Gutiérrez, sold one and a half million copies in 1963 and gave him the nickname El Inolvidable. He performed at Birdland with jazz musicians such as Bob Brookmeyer, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims and Clark Terry. In 1966 he returned to Puerto Rico, where he started a television show and a label of his own. In 1999 he was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Inolvidable and notice the soft, smooth voice above the calm bolero rhythm. Can you hear how gently and intimately he sings, compared with the dance numbers from his mambo years?

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists