Joe Cuba
Joe Cuba (born "Jose Calderon" (1931) in New York City) is a Puerto Rican musician considered by many to be the "Father of Latin Boogaloo".
Cuba's parents immigrated from Puerto Rico in the late 1920s and settled down in Spanish Harlem, a Hispanic ghetto located in Manhattan. Cuba was raised in an apartment building where his father had become the owner of a candy store located on the ground floor (street level floor). His father had organized a stickball (ghetto baseball) club called the Devils. Stickball was the main sport activity of the neighborhood. Cuba was a member of the Devils and one day while playing ball, he slid and broke his leg. He took up playing the conga, since he couldn't do much with a cast on his leg. He continued to practice with the conga between school and his free time. Eventually he graduated from high school and joined a band.
In 1950, when he was 19 years old, he played for J. Panama and also for a group called La Alfarona X. The group soon disbanded and Cuba enrolled in college to study law. While he was studying law, he attended a concert in which Tito Puente performed "Abaniquito". He went up to Tito and introduced himself as a student and fan and soon they developed what was to become a lifetime friendship. This event motivated Cuba to organize his own band. In 1954, he contracted an agent who recommended that he change the band's name from the Jose Calderon Sextet to the Joe Cuba Sextet. The Joe Cuba Sextet made their debut at the Stardust Ballroom.
In 1962, Cuba recorded "To Be With You" with the vocals of Cheo Feliciano and Jimmy Sabater. The band began to soar in popularity in the New York Latin community. The lyrics to Cuba's music used a mixture of Spanish and English, becoming an important part of the Nuyorican Movement. In 1967, his band which included timbales, vibraphones, and the piano among its musical instruments, scored a "hit" in the United States National Hit Parade List with the song "Bang Bang". It is considered as the song which ushered in the Latin Boogaloo era. He also had a #1 hit, that year in the Billboards with the song "Sock It To Me Baby".
Then came what is considered to be his "greatest" hit, "El Pito (I Never Go Back To Georgia)". It is said that during the 1960s, while Joe Cuba and his sextet where on tour, they had an engagement in Georgia. He personally suffered the racial discrimination which was rampant in the south at that time. This experience inspired him to write the song which includes his trademark whistle.
Joe Cuba and his sextet have worked over the years with many artists, including Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey, James Brown and Judy Garland. Charlie Palmieri was his musical director, when in 1988 he died of a heart attack upon his arrival to New York from Puerto Rico with the intention of making a concert arrangement for the band. Joe Cuba and his sextet have sold millions of records over the years. In 2003, he recorded the following CDs: "Joe Cuba Sextet Vol I: Mardi Gras Music for Dancing", "Merengue Loco" and "Out of This World Cha Cha".
On April 1999, Joe Cuba was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame. In 2004, he was named Grand Marshall of the Puerto Rican Day Parade celebrated in Yonkers, New York. Joe Cuba recently recovered from a stroke. He currently is the director of the Museum of La Salsa, located in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York.
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Categories: 1931 births | Puerto Rican people | Puerto Rican musicians