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Profile of the Famous Singer Hector Lavoe

Hector Lavoe was a salsa and Latin singer who incorporated jazz and rock into his music and is considered to be the Voice of the Puerto Rican people. This is due to his gritty and grounded life, his inspirational music, and the fact that when he arrived in New York to perform at the age of 17, he was ideally placed to be a part of the Civil Rights Movement that was heating up and inspiring other Puerto Ricans and was immensely popular in Puerto Rico.

As Marc Anthony put it: He was our Bob Dylan. He inspired many other musicians and his difficult life made people root for him instead of following him for scandals.

Hector was born in 1946 in Ponce, Puerto Rico to a musically talented family who inspired him to sing and play as well. He was influenced by his parents and by other Puerto Rican folk singers like Jesus Sanchez Erazo.

Hector moved to New York at the age of 17, against his fathers wishes who had lost another son to drug abuse in New York. Ironically, Hector would almost meet the same fate.

In New York, he sang and played with other bands and was quickly given the stage name Lavoe meaning, The Voice for his skill as lead vocalist and to distinguish him from other Latino singers.

He would achieve almost over night success and stardom, which he did not take to very gracefully. Instead, he grew addicted to narcotics like heroin and prescription drugs and this addiction made him late for rehearsals and difficult to perform with.

Despite this, his audience continued to love him for his amiable stage personality and wonderful voice. However, his bands and partners could not work with him as he was and he was forced to go solo and construct his own bands to tour and play with.

He continued to perform for live audiences as his health and mental stability faltered-he tried to commit suicide in 1988 and he began a battle with AIDS that he would ultimately lose by 1993. He died impoverished due to his addictions and the slide in performances and recording that the addictions had forced him into.

Despite his less than glorious end, Hector Lavoe remained the Voice of the People and the drug abuse and tragedies of his life simply became a reason to continue to follow his life and music.

He was considered a grounded man who represented the soul of Puerto Rico. An attack on him was considered an attack on the whole of the country and even an attack on humanity itself, for while he was flawed, he was very charismatic and his music touched many people, Puerto Rican or otherwise.

He was laid back, flawed even in his singing (with a nasal voice), able to improvise, and got along well with his audience. All of these things have immortalized him and made him an integral part of the Puerto Rican cultural landscape, as well as part of the New York music scene where he did his greatest work.

He has had two films made about his life-one that debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and featured Marc Anthony, and the other that was recently released to the public and featured Raul Carbonell.

There has also been a Broadway musical about him called Who Killed Hector Lavoe? Lavoe inspired other Latin singers and his life, while difficult, made him a star. It is too bad that he died so young; who knows what else he could have produced had he the chance.

Seed Newsvine

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