Tito Puente

The undisputed king of timbales, Tito Puente was an American percussionist and bandleader who rose to stardom in the ‘50s with groundbreaking collisions of jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms, laying foundations for the boogaloo and salsa explosions of the following decade. Born in 1923, Ernesto Antonio Puente Jr. was a native of Spanish Harlem—fiercely proud of his Puerto Rican heritage despite being most closely associated with Cuban music. As a teenager, he studied piano and drums, and also showed great promise as a dancer, briefly putting his artistic ambitions on hold when he was drafted to serve in World War II in 1942. Upon his return, he enrolled at Juilliard, deepening his mastery of jazz percussion and eventually collaborating with legends Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Classic Tito Puente albums Night Beat (1957) and Dance Mania, Vol. 1 (1958) brought Cuban rhythms like son and bolero to mainstream audiences, while the artist’s 1962 cha-cha smash, “Oye Como Va,” along with his novel, punchy mambo music were precursors to salsa. Puente's impact transcended music, as he appeared in the popular 1992 film The Mambo Kings and guested on The Simpsons and Sesame Street, all before his passing in 2000.