Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez, a.k.a Héctor Lavoe was born in Puerto Rico just after the end of WWII. He studied musical arts here before he moved to New York at age sixteen. His talent as a singer got recognised quickly, and he sang with some well-known bands, including one by Johnny Pacheco, before he signed up with Willie Colón's band as a vocalist a few years later. His fame only indeed materialised when he decided to start his own band and recorded many famous hit songs, such as "El Cantante", "Periódico De Ayer", "El Día De Mi Suerte", and many more.
His stage name Lavoe comes from "La Voz" ("The Voice"), which his manager made him adopt. His stage name was well deserved as many regarded him as one of the best Salsa singers of all time due to his unique, clear voice, impeccable diction, and charismatic stage presence.
Towards the late 70s, Lavoe was battling with drug addiction, which period of his life was turned into one of the best movies made about this piece of Salsa history, called "El Cantante", featuring Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez as Hector and his wife, Nilda. The movie tells his story till his death in 1993 at age 46.
The movie trailer:
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