Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez, aka Hector Lavoe, was one of the leading lights of
Latin music as it changed from the boogaloo of the 1960s to the massively
popular salsa of the '70s.
Lavoe was born in the Machuelo Abajo barrio of Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1946. He
grew up among a musical family and took early inspiration from the likes of
Daniel Santos and Chuito el de Bayamon, studying at the Escuela Libre de Música
de Ponce music school. At 17, however, Lavoe quit the school to move to New York
and actively pursue a music career.
He found gigs with a number of groups, but it w...