Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez, better known as Héctor Lavoe, was born on September 30, 1946 in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Pérez Martínez was nicknamed “Lavoe” by a New York City dance promoter. His unique vocal style and ability to improvise made him a highly popular singer.
Lavoe learned appreciation for music from his father Luis Pérez. Young Hector enjoyed listening to Chuíto el de Bayamón, one of the finest greats of jíbaro (Puerto Rican rural music) music artists of the era.
Lavoe received musk classes form his father and attended the Free School of Music (currently known as Instituto de Música Juan Morel Campos) in Ponce, where he met Papo Lucca and began a long-lasting friendship with José Febles.
At 14, Lavoe sang professionally with a ten-piece band in a local club. He dropped out of school and at 17 moved to New York. Soon after, in May 1963, he was hired to perform with a sextet and performed with various other acts, including Russell Cohen’s La New Yorkers and Kako. Fania Records co-founder Johnny Pacheco recruited Lavoe to provide lead vocals on Willie Colón’s 1967 debut for the label, El Malo (The Bad Guy).
Pacheco was very impressed with Lavoe’s creativity, good humor and ad-libbing. The combination of Willie Colon’s two-trombone sound with Lavoe’s jíbaro style vocals became a hit and the two continuously played at clubs in New York and Puerto Rico. Between 1967 and 1975, Lavoe sang on 12 of Colón’s albums.
In 1974, while at the pinnacle of his popularity, Colón announced the breakup of his band. This shocked Lavoe and the rest of the salsa world. Ultimately, Lavoe took over the band. With two trumpets added to the two-trombone frontline, Lavoe released his solo debut La Voz in 1975, produced by the Colón. The album reached gold status.
Lavoe continued on to make a further seven solo albums with Fania between 1976 and 1987, as well as an LP with the Fania All Stars, Tito Puente, Daniel Santos, Yomo Toro and Willie Colón. However, his career was afflicted by drug problems and Lavoe went into a deeper crisis in 1987 when his teenage son died, his home was destroyed by fire and he was diagnosed with AIDS. An unsuccessful suicide attempt in 1988 left him gravely ill until he finally died of a heart attack on June 29, 1993.
Discography
With Willie Colón
El Malo (Fania Records, 1967)
The Hustler (Fania Records, 1968)
Guisando (Fania Records, 1969)
Cosa Nuestra (Fania Records, 1970)
La Gran Fuga ( Fania Records, 1971)
Asalto Navideño (Fania Records, 1971)
El Juicio (Fania Records, 1972)
Asalto Navideño Vol. 2 (Fania Records, 1973)
Lo Mato si no compra este LP (Fania Records, 1973)
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (Fania Records, 1975)
Solo albums
La Voz (Fania Records, 1975)
De Ti Depende (Fania Records, 1976)
Comedia (Fania Records, 1978)
Feliz Navidad (Fania Records, 1979) (with Daniel Santos & Yomo Toro)
Recordando a Felipe Pirela (Fania Records, 1979)
El Sabio (Fania Records, 1980)
Que Sentimiento (Fania Records, 1981)
Vigilante (Fania Records, 1983)
Revento (Fania Records, 1985)
Strikes Back (Fania Records, 1987)
A Man and His Music: La Voz, 2-CD remastered compilation (Fania Records, 2007)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.