Tuesday, April 05, 2016

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Tito Puente

Artist:Tito Puente
Song:Para Los Rumberos
Album:Anthology




Tito Puente was one of the all time greats of Latin music known as The King Of The Timbales. His career spanned several decades and several different musical styles. Para Los Rumberos was first recorded in 1972 and the song got a boost when it was used in the 1992 film The Mambo Kings. He was born Apr. 20, 1923 in New York City. His parents were from Puerto Rico. He started banging on things as a child. He had a song and dance duo with his sister. But an injury forced him to give up dancing. His first job as a drummer was in Machito's band. He was in the US Navy during WWII and afterwards he attended Juilliard. Commercially Puente probably had his biggest success when he recorded for RCA in the 50s. In the 60s he recorded for Tico Records and then later he recorded for Fania, RMM and Concord. Para Los Rumberos was on the 1972 album Para Los Rumberos. I would say it's one of his more jazz oriented songs. It was used in the 1992 film The Mambo Kings. This 2CD comp is a good intro to Puente's music. Puente has won many awards over the years and he continued to perform with the same energy as a senior. Puente played an animated version of himself in a 1995 episode of The Simpsons "Who Shot Mr. Burns". And he also appeared in the 2000 doc Calle 54. Puente died on June 1, 2000 at age 77 after suffering a heart attack after performing in Puerto Rico. His son Tito Puente Jr. leads a tribute band and his granddaughter Janeen Puente leads her own band. Here's Tito Puente performing Para Los Rumberos on the PBS TV series Soul! Nov. 15, 1972.

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