Fania Records is a New York–based record label founded by Dominican-born composer and bandleader Johnny Pacheco and his American lawyer Jerry Masucci in 1964. The label took its name from a popular luncheonette frequented by musicians in Havana, Cuba that Masucci frequented when he worked for a public relations firm there during the pre-Castro era. Fania is known for its promotion of salsa music.
Humberto "Tito" Nieves is a Puerto Rican musician who became one of the leading salsa singers of the 1980s and the early 1990s.
Wilkins is a Puerto Rican pop music singer and composer.
A descarga is an improvised jam session consisting of variations on Cuban music themes, primarily son montuno, but also guajira, bolero, guaracha and rumba. The genre is strongly influenced by jazz and it was developed in Havana during the 1950s. Important figures in the emergence of the genre were Cachao, Julio Gutiérrez, Bebo Valdés, Peruchín and Niño Rivera in Cuba, and Tito Puente, Machito and Mario Bauzá in New York. Originally, descargas were promoted by record companies such as Panart, Maype and Gema under the label Cuban jam sessions. From the 1960s, the descarga format was usually adapted by large salsa ensembles, most notably the Fania All-Stars.
Salvador "Sal" Cuevas was an American salsa bassist known for his association with the Fania All-Stars from 1978 to 1985. Although he also played the upright bass, he was one of the most popular electric bassists in the New York salsa scene, often playing in a funk style. "He was the first to bring the slaps and funk style that he learned from R&B, Funk, and Jazz music, into Salsa music."
The Fania All-Stars is a musical group formed in 1968 as a showcase for the musicians on Fania Records, the leading salsa music record label of the time.
Luis Ortiz a.k.a. "Perico" is a trumpet player, composer, musical arranger and producer.
The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets in Greenwich Village, New York. Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 160 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago School structure by architect Ernest Flagg was known at the time as Mills House No. 1 and served as a flophouse for transient men. In its heyday, the Village Gate also included an upper-story performance space, known as the Top of the Gate.
Oscar Hernández is an American pianist, arranger and producer of Puerto Rican descent.
Ángel Santos Vega Colon, aka Santitos Colón, was a Puerto Rican bolero and mambo singer, born in Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico and raised in Mayagüez. He was also known by the moniker: "The Man with The Golden Voice".
RMM Records, also known as RMM Records & Video Corp, was an independent Latin music record label established in 1987 and based in New York City. The label was most active during the late 1980s and early 1990s and produced primarily salsa, Latin jazz, and merengue music. At its peak, RMM Records employed 55 staff members and had distribution deals in 42 cities around the world, occupying 9,000 square feet in two floors at its Soho headquarters. The label was established by Fania Records promoter Ralph Mercado, who had established RMM Management in 1972 as an artist management and booking agency, providing bookings for Latin artists Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, and Ray Barretto.
Mo' Ritmo is the first album by the Ecuadorian singer Gerardo. Released in 1991 by Interscope Records as the label's inaugural album, it peaked at No. 36 on the Billboard 200.
Born Romantic is a 2000 British film directed by David Kane. The film is centered on a salsa club and depicts four love stories. Fergus is trying to find the one he left behind on the eve of their wedding, charmer and Rat Pack fanatic Frankie woos the beautiful Eleanor and the robber Eddie falls hopelessly in love with dowdy cemetery worker Jocelyn. Meanwhile, taxi driver Jimmy is transporting all of them and dealing with a love story of his own.
Roger Dawson is a jazz percussionist, conga drummer, bandleader, and jazz composer. He was a leading jazz and salsa disc jockey in the US and was acknowledged as being at the forefront of New York's salsa music explosion of the seventies and early eighties. He was the creator of the long-running "Salsa Meets Jazz" concert series at New York's Village Gate club.
"I Know (You Don't Love Me No More)" is an R&B song written and recorded by American singer Barbara George, released as her debut single in 1961. It became her signature song and her only major hit in United States, reaching No.1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart and No.3 in the Hot 100. It was later covered by various artists, inducing Fats Domino, Cher, Ike & Tina Turner, and Bonnie Raitt. A Spanish version by Marisela topped Billboard's Latin chart in 1988. The Shirelles borrowed the melody of "I Know" for their 1963 cover of "Everybody Loves A Lover".
Carlos Vidal Bolado also known as "Vidal Bolado" (1914–1996) was a Cuban conga drummer and an original member of Machito and his Afro-Cubans. Vidal holds the double distinction of being the first to record authentic folkloric Cuban rumba and the first to play congas in Latin jazz.
Harvey Averne has been described as "one of several prominent Jewish Americans in New York's bustling Latin music scene."
This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in Latin music in the 1980s, namely in Ibero-America. This includes recordings, festivals, award ceremonies, births and deaths of Latin music artists, and the advancement and adjournment of the genre from 1980 to 1989.
This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in Latin music in the 1970s, namely in Ibero-America. This includes recordings, festivals, award ceremonies, births and deaths of Latin music artists, and the advancement and adjournment of the genre from 1970 to 1979.
Jon Evan Fausty was an American multiple Grammy Award-winning sound and recording engineer best known for his work on some of the most successful Latin albums ever recorded.
