Tito Puente
Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000),[1] commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, timbalero, and record producer. He composed dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz music.
Tito Puente
Ernest Anthony Puente Jr.
April 20, 1923
New York City, U.S.
June 1, 2000 (aged 77)
New York City, U.S.
- Musician
- songwriter
- record producer
1946–2000
- Tico
- Fania
- Sony Discos
- RMM
- Concord Picante
Puente and his music have appeared in films including The Mambo Kings and Fernando Trueba's Calle 54. He guest-starred on television shows, including Sesame Street and The Simpsons two-part episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns?".
Early life[edit]
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, Puerto Ricans living in New York City's Spanish Harlem.[2][3] His family moved frequently, but he spent the majority of his childhood in Spanish Harlem.[2] Puente's father was the foreman at a razorblade factory.[4] His family called him Ernestito, Spanish for Little Ernest, and this became shortened to "Tito".[5]
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.[4] He switched to percussion by the age of 10, drawing influence from jazz drummer Gene Krupa.[4] 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.[3][4] When the drummer in Machito's band was drafted to the army, Puente subsequently took his place.[4]
Personal life and death[edit]
Puente's oldest son Ron Puente is from a first marriage to Mirta Sanchez. Richard "Richie" Puente was the percussionist in the 1970s funk band Foxy. Puente's youngest son, Tito Puente Jr., has performed and recorded many of Puente's songs. His daughter Audrey Puente is a television meteorologist for WNYW and WWOR-TV in New York City.
After a show in Puerto Rico on May 31, 2000, Puente 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.[11] He was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.