Celebrity Biographies
TITO PUENTE: WHAT INSTRUMENT DID HE PLAY AND WHY GOOGLE DEDICATES A DOODLE TO HIM
The Puerto Rican musician was known as El rey de los timbales, and he was certainly able to boast his title due to the fact that he did almost everything a musician can do: he was a percussionist, composer, songwriter, recording artist, and even bandleader.
Tito Puente was born on April 20, 1923 at the Harlem Hospital Center, in the well-known Hispanic neighborhood of New York. From a very young age he was surrounded by music among his relatives and those closest to him, so as a teenager he began playing the drums.
His musical debut was with Federico Pagani’s Happy Boys and Machito’s Orchestra, later enlisting in the Navy during World War II. In the military stage he played the alto saxophone in a band with other military comrades. After the war ended he continued his studies at the Juilliard School of Music.
After completing his training, he formed the Tito Puente Orchestra in 1948 with which he conquered the entire world thanks to a mix of jazz with Afro-Cuban music that marked an era. His numbers are impressive, having participated in 118 albums throughout his career, a record.
The artist became a legend in the United States, especially in New York, from which he received the keys to the city in 1969. After his death, a street in the Harlem neighborhood was renamed Tito Puente Way in his honor.
WHEN DID TITO PUENTE DIE?
The artist died at the age of 77 on June 1, 2000 after a heart operation of more than 17 hours in a New York hospital.