Willie Rosario
b. Fernando Luis Mar¡n Rosario, 6 May 1930, Coamo, Puerto Rico. Exemplary salsa band leader, timbales, composer Rosario has been drilling his band to perfection for over three decades. Spurred on by his mother, Rosario began studying guitar and saxophone at the age of seven, but he much preferred playing baseball. When he was 16 years old, his family migrated to New York in search of better opportunities. In New York, Rosario studied public relations and journalism and later worked as a radio newsreader. However, in 1951 he was so inspired by seeing Tito Puente play timbales at New York's famous Palladium Ballroom, that he decided to make music his vocation. He started to study the timbales seriously and worked with various band leaders, including Noro Morales, Aldemaro Romero and Johnny Sequ¡. When Sequ¡ decided to return to Puerto Rico, Rosario organized his own band and made his debut with them in 1959 at the Club Caborroje¤o in New York. He signed with Alegre Records and released the classic El Bravo Soy Yo in 1963, which was produced by the label's founder Al Santiago. Lead vocals were provided by Frankie Figueroa, who began his career as a conga player with Kako and later performed with various band leaders, including C‚sar Concepci¢n, Memo Salamanca and Tito Puente, and as a solo artist. While with Alegre, Rosario appeared on two of the legendary 60s' descarga (Latin jam session) albums by the Alegre All-Stars. In 1968, while the boogaloo craze was raging, Rosario was signed-up by the Atlantic Records subsidiary Atco to record Boogaloo & Guaguanco, which featured Adalberto Santiago on lead vocals. That year, Rosario released another boogaloo orientated set, Two Too Much, which was produced by Al Santiago on the Musicor label. He added baritone saxophone to his four-trumpet front-line on this album and has retained this combination until the present day. Lead singers Willie Torres and Pete Bonet handled the boogaloos and Figueroa returned to perform the typical Latin numbers. Rosario later admitted that he disapproved of boogaloo.

Listen to Willie Rosario at Finetune.

Albums
Top Tracks
  • La Bomba
  • El Apartamento
  • Esa Mujer
  • Arrepentios Pecadores
  • Ojala Te Vaya Bonito
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