The Night Walkers | |
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Also known as | Los Night Walkers |
Origin | Mayagüez, Puerto Rico San Juan, Puerto Rico |
Genres | garage rock, rock en Español |
Years active | 1965–1971 |
Labels | Inca, Triunfo, Borinquen |
Members | Oscar Solo (lead vocals) 1965-1968 Gilberto "Gil" Rivera (guitar, vocals, director) Fernando Ayala (guitar, vocals, arranger) Felix Ayala (bass guitar, composer, vocals) Enrique "Kiko" Rivera (drums, vocals) Jose "Pepito" Valentin (guitar, vocals) Jose Raul Feliciano (guitar, vocals) Milton Segarra (guitar, vocals) |
The Night Walkers (also billed as "Los Night Walkers", and "The Nightwalkers") were a Puerto Rican garage rock band during the 1960s and 1970s, and were part of the Nueva Ola scene.
Originally from Mayaguez, The Night Walkers were discovered by music impresario, Alfred D. Herger. The group debuted in San Juan on the television program, "Kaleidoscopio", and frequently appeared on shows such as "El Club De Las 5", "Fin De Semana Musical", "El Show De Iris Chacon", and with Chucho Avellanet. [1] Their debut album, Introducing The Night Walkers, was released in 1968 on the Puerto Rican record label, Inca. [2] [3] Members of the band included singer Oscar Solo, [4] brothers Felix Ayala on bass guitar and Fernando Ayala on lead guitar, Jose "Pepito" Valentin on guitar and Enrique "Kiko" Rivera on drums. In 1970, they had success with "Tema de la telenovela 'Natacha'", their version of the theme song from the Peruvian telenovela, Natacha , which was sung by Gil Rivera. 'Natacha' was considered one of the first international hit telenovelas (Simplemente María , 1968, being the first), and the song became popular throughout Latin America and among the Puerto Rican / Hispanic communities in the US.
After years of touring across the U.S., and Latin America, The Night Walkers disbanded in the early 1970s.
Elmer Figueroa Arce, better known under the stage name Chayanne, is a Puerto Rican Latin pop singer and actor. As a solo artist, Chayanne has released 21 albums and sold over 50 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling Latin music artists.
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Danny Rivera is a singer and songwriter born in San Juan whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is well known in Puerto Rico for his political activism. In 2008, Rivera acquired Dominican Republic citizenship. After 12 years of work, Danny Rivera and Nelson González in 2014 finished work putting new life into the classical bolero - in Spanish. Rivera and González Hit the Heart of the Latin American Song Book on Obsesión
Hermes Davide Fastino Croatto Martinis, better known as Tony Croatto was an Italian singer and composer best known for his interpretations of Spanish folkloric songs and music from Puerto Rico. His musical career began as part of the sibling musical group, Los TNT, with his siblings Nelly and Tim. He was also a television presenter.
The tres is a three-course chordophone of Cuban origin. The most widespread variety of the instrument is the original Cuban tres with six strings. Its sound has become a defining characteristic of the Cuban son and it is commonly played in a variety of Afro-Cuban genres. In the 1930s, the instrument was adapted into the Puerto Rican tres, which has nine strings and a body similar to that of the cuatro.
Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez, 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 favorite singers of the Latin public.
Florencio ("Flor") Morales Ramos, better known as Ramito, was a Puerto Rican trovador, and composer who was a native of Caguas, Puerto Rico. He is considered the king of Jíbaro music. Known as "El Cantor de la Montaña", Morales Ramos had two brothers, Luis ("Luisito") and Juan María ("Moralito"), who also attained major recognition as jíbaro singers.
Rafael Hernández Marín was a Puerto Rican songwriter, author of hundreds of popular songs in the Latin American repertoire. He specialized in Puerto Rican styles such as the canción, bolero and guaracha. Among his most famous compositions are "Lamento borincano", "Capullito de alhelí", "Campanitas de cristal", "Cachita", "Silencio", "El cumbanchero", "Ausencia" and "Perfume de gardenias".
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Pedro Ortiz Dávila, better known as Davilita, was a popular Puerto Rican singer of boleros and patriotic songs. He was the first artist to record the Rafael Hernández standard "Lamento Borincano".
Lunna is a Puerto Rican singer of popular music and jazz who was the director of the television show Objetivo Fama, the Latin version of American Idol.
Pellín Rodríguez, was a Salsa singer. Rodríguez was a member of the musical group El Gran Combo and toured with them all over Latin America and Europe, gaining fame and popularity as a singer. In addition to his singing capabilities, Rodríguez had great comedic abilities and participated on comedy bits on various TV shows in Puerto Rico.
Ismael Rivera a.k.a. "Maelo", was a Puerto Rican composer and salsa singer.
Americo Boschetti is a singer, composer and guitarist. Composer of over 500 songs, Boschetti has also transformed many poems into songs by adding music to the lyrics.
The history of the Cinema industry in Puerto Rico predates Hollywood, being conceived after the first industries emerged in some locations of the United States, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, France, Great Britain and Germany. During the US invasion of the island in 1898, American soldiers brought cameras to record what they saw. By 1912, Puerto Ricans would begin to produce their own films. After the early images recorded by the American soldiers in 1898, most of the films produced in the island were documentaries. It wasn't until 1912 that Rafael Colorado D'Assoy recorded the first non-documentary film titled Un drama en Puerto Rico. After that, Colorado and Antonio Capella Martínez created the Film Industrial Society of Puerto Rico in 1916, producing their first film titled Por la hembra y el gallo. Other film companies formed during the time were the Tropical Film Company (1917) and the Porto Rico Photoplays (1919). Puerto Rico was the second Latin American market to produce a sound film, filming Luis Pales Matos's script for Romance Tropical (1934). The film featured Jorge Rodríguez, Raquel and Ernestina Canino, Sixto Chevremont and Cándida de Lorenzo. In the late 1930s Rafael Cobián produced films starring Blanca de Castejón such as Mis dos amores and Los hijos mandan at Hollywood. In 1951, he would produce Mi doble with San Juan as its setting. Mapy and Fernando Cortés would also participate in the Hollywood industry, as well as throughout Latin America.
Adalberto Santiago is an internationally known salsa singer.
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Edwin Colón Zayas, often called a genius and virtuous cuatrista, is a highly accomplished musician of Puerto Rico, known for his use and promotion of the Puerto Rican cuatro, an instrument that plays like a guitar, but is shaped closer to the violin. He joins a large number of Puerto Rican artists, "innovative tradition-bearing," who focus their talents in extolling the virtues of the Puerto Rican creole and Jibaro way of life.
During the 1950s, the impending arrival of television created public expectation in Puerto Rico, even influencing other entertainment mediums in the form of a song. WKAQ-TV was the first station to introduce regular programing in 1954, followed closely by WAPA-TV. The owners of these stations, Ángel Ramos and José Ramón Quiñones, brought their experience in the newspaper and radio industries to the new medium. The competition between WKAQ and WAPA would continue for decades, with both disputing the milestones of first videotape in 1966, first color transmission and satellite transmission in 1968. During decades, the ratings were dominated by local programming produced by Tommy Muñiz and Paquito Cordero, which adopted a family friendly approach. However, the retirement of the former, combined with the introduction of cable television and the acquisition of the largest stations by foreign interest brought changes in content beginning in the 1980s, with late-night shows and double entendre gaining prominence. Digital television was introduced to the market in 2009, widely displacing analog television.
Luis Daniel Rivera is a Puerto Rican actor and radio announcer. He is better known for his participation in Puerto Rican, Dominican Republic and Mexican telenovelas. He has also participated in some films.