Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez (September 30, 1946 – June 29, 1993), better known as Héctor Lavoe, was a Puerto Rican salsa singer.
Lavoe was born and raised in the Machuelo Abajo barrio of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Early in his life, he attended the Ponce Free School of Music known today as the Instituto de Música Juan Morel Campos, and, inspired by Jesús Sánchez Erazo, developed an interest in music. He moved to New York City on 3 May 1963, at the age of sixteen. Shortly after his arrival, he worked as the singer in a sextet formed by Roberto García. During this period, he performed with several other groups, including Orquesta New York, Kako All-Stars, and the Johnny Pacheco band.
In 1967, Lavoe joined Willie Colón's band as the its vocalist recording several hit songs, including "El Malo" and "Canto a Borinquen". Lavoe moved on to become a soloist and formed his own band performing as lead vocalist. As a soloist, Lavoe recorded several hits including: "El cantante" composed by Rubén Blades, "Bandolera" composed by Colón, and "Periódico de ayer" composed by Tite Curet Alonso. During this period he was frequently featured as a guest singer with the Fania All Stars recording numerous tracks with the band.
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (born July 16, 1948), known professionally as Rubén Blades (Spanish pronunciation: [ruˈβem ˈblaðes] but [ˈbleðz] in Panama and within the family), is a Panamanian singer, songwriter, actor, musician, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in the Afro-Cuban, salsa, and Latin jazz genres. As a songwriter, Blades brought the lyrical sophistication of Central American nueva canción and Cuban nueva trova as well as experimental tempos and politically inspired Nuyorican salsa to his music, creating "thinking persons' (salsa) dance music".
Blades has composed dozens of musical hits, the most famous of which is "Pedro Navaja", a song about a neighborhood thug who is killed by a very attractive street walker he actually knows (he tries to kill her, she shoots him, they both die, a bum finds them, and takes his belongings; Blades' song "Sorpresas" continues the story), inspired by "Mack the Knife". He also composed and sings "Patria" (Motherland), which many Panamanians consider their second national anthem. He has won sevenGrammy and fiveLatin Grammy Awards. His acting career began in 1983, and has continued, sometimes with several-year breaks to focus on other projects; since 2015, he has portrayed Daniel Salazar, a main character on TV series Fear the Walking Dead.