Tito Puente

Ernest Anthony "Tito" Puente, Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000) was an American musician of Puerto Rican descent, songwriter, record producer and bandleader. Puente is often credited as "The Musical Pope", "El Rey de los Timbales" (The King of the Timbales) and "The King of Latin Music". He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz compositions that endured over a 50-year career. His most famous song is "Oye Como Va".

He and his music appear in many films such as The Mambo Kings and Fernando Trueba's Calle 54. He guest-starred on several television shows, including Sesame Street and The Simpsons two-part episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns?".

Tito Puente was born on April 20, 1923, at Harlem Hospital Center in the New York borough of Manhattan, the son of Ernest and Felicia Puente, stateside Puerto Ricans residing in New York City's Spanish Harlem area. His family moved frequently, but he spent the majority of his childhood in Spanish Harlem. Puente's father was the foreman at a razorblade factory.

As a child, he was described as hyperactive, and after neighbors complained of hearing seven-year-old Puente beating on pots and window frames, his mother sent him to 25-cent piano lessons. He switched to percussion by the age of 10, drawing influence from jazz drummer Gene Krupa. He later created a song-and-dance duo with his sister Anna in the 1930s and intended to become a dancer, but an ankle tendon injury prevented him from pursuing dance as a career. When the drummer in Machito's band was drafted to the army, Puente subsequently took his place.

Puente served in the Navy for three years during World War II after being drafted in 1942. He was discharged with a Presidential Unit Citation for serving in nine battles on the escort carrier USS Santee (CVE-29). The GI Bill allowed him to study music at Juilliard School of Music, where he completed a formal education in conducting, orchestration and theory.

During the 1950s, Puente was at the height of his popularity, and helped to bring Afro-Cuban and Caribbean sounds like mambo, son, and cha-cha-chá, to mainstream audiences. Puente was so successful playing popular Afro-Cuban rhythms that many people mistakenly identify him as Cuban. Dance Mania, possibly Puente's most well known album, was released in 1958.

Among his most famous compositions are mambo "Oye como va" (1963), popularized by Latin rock musician Carlos Santana and later interpreted, among others, by Julio Iglesias, Irakere and Celia Cruz. In 1969, he received the key to the City of New York from former Mayor John Lindsay. In 1992, he was inducted into the National Congressional Record, and in 1993 he received the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal from the Smithsonian.

In early 2000, Tito Puente appeared in the music documentary Calle 54. After a show in Puerto Rico on May 31, 2000, he suffered a massive heart attack and was flown to New York City for surgery to repair a heart valve, but complications developed and he died on June 1, 2000 at 2:27am. He was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

Tito Puente's name is often mentioned in a television production called La Epoca, a film about the Palladium era in New York, Afro-Cuban music and rhythms, mambo and salsa as dances and music and much more. The film discusses many of Puente's, as well as Arsenio Rodríguez's, contributions, and features interviews with some of the musicians Puente recorded with Alfonso "El Panameno" Joseph.

Puente's son Richard "Richie" Puente was the percussionist in the 1970s funk band Foxy. Puente's youngest son, Tito Puente Jr., has continued his father's legacy by presenting many of the same songs in his performances and recordings, while daughter Audrey Puente is a television meteorologist for WNYW and WWOR-TV in New York City.

• In 1995, Tito Puente received the Billboard Latin Music Lifetime Achievement Award.
• During the presidency of Sen. Roberto Rexach Benítez, Tito Puente received the unique honor of having both a special session of the Senate of Puerto Rico dedicated to him, and being allowed to perform in his unique style on the floor of the Senate while it was in session.
• On September 10, 2007, a United States Post Office in Spanish Harlem was named after him at a ceremony presided by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Rep. José Serrano (D-NY).
• An amphitheatre was named in his honor at Luis Muñoz Marín Park, nextto the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• In 1995, Puente was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.
• Puente performed at the closing ceremonies at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. The timbales he used there are on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington D.C.
• In 1997, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
• In 1990 he received a Star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. (ref Hollywood Chamber Of Commerce)
• In 1984 he received an honorary Decree from the Los Angeles City Council.
• On June 5, 2005, Puente was honored by Union City, New Jersey with a star on the Walk of Fame at Union City's Celia Cruz Park.
• In 1999, he was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame.
• On May 19, 1999, he received an honorary Mus.D degree from Columbia University
• On August 20, 2000, East 110th Street in Spanish Harlem was named 'Tito Puente Way'

As leader

As sideman

With Dizzy Gillespie

• Rhythmstick (1990)

With Benny Golson

• Remembering Clifford (Milestone, 1998)

With Quincy Jones

• Quincy Plays for Pussycats (Mercury, 1959–65 [1965])

With Hilton Ruiz

• Rhythm in the House (RMM, 1976 [1998])

With Sonny Stitt

• The Matadors Meet the Bull (Roulette, 1965)

Selected feature films

• Armed and Dangerous (1986) as Band Leader
• Radio Days (1987) as Latin Bandleader
• The Mambo Kings (1992) as Himself
• Celia Cruz (Netflix; portrayed as "Tico") (2015)

Documentaries

• Tito Puente: The King of Latin Music (2000)
• Profiles Featuring Tito Puente Jr. (2007)
• Latin Knights (2005)
• Calle 54 (2000)

Concert films

• Tito Puente – Live in Montreal (Montreal Jazz Festival) (1983) (2003)

The Simpsons

Puente appeared in the two-part whodunit drama "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" in the sixth season finale and seventh season premiere of American comedy cartoon show The Simpsons in 1995. In the shows, Puente joins Springfield Elementary School as a music teacher after the school discovers it is located over an oil well. However, Mr. Burns manages to pump the oil first which makes him the legal owner of the well. This causes the school to fall into debt with budget cuts required to the music and maintenance departments, causing Puente to lose his job. When Burns is later shot, Puente becomes one of the prime suspects but manages to clear himself by performing one of his songs for Chief Wiggum. Seven alternative endings were filmed of various characters shooting Burns; Puente is one of the alternates. Although all endings were animated, the ending of Maggie Simpson shooting Burns was the ending chosen to air.

The Emmy-nominated song "Señor Burns" from the episode is featured on the 1999 album, Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons.