Biography for
Tito Puente More at IMDb Pro »

Date of Birth

20 April 1923, New York City, New York, USA

Date of Death

1 June 2000, New York, New York, USA (heart disease)

Birth Name

Ernest Anthony Puente Jr.

Nickname

King of the Mambo
King of Latin Jazz
El Rey

Mini Biography

Ernest "Tito" Anthony Puente was the eldest son of Puerto Rican parents. His mother called him "Ernestito" which means, "Little Ernest". It was later shortened to "Tito". His mother saw his musical potential and enrolled him into piano classes. Eventually, he attended the Julliard School of Music from 1945 to 1947 on the G.I. bill. He would write a piece that would start off as jazz and then add a Latin beat to it. He recorded over 100 albums during his 60 years in the business. He won 10 grammys in years past. He often joked that he was profitting off of Santana's hit recording of "Oye Como Va" which he had written. He said, "I get a nice royalty check." He appeared in several films, usually as himself.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Lydia Marie

Spouse

Margaret Asencio

(1963 - 1 June 2000) (his death) 3 children

Trade Mark

He was a Latin percussionist and musician.

Trivia

His son Richie Puente was a member of musical group, Foxy, which had a major disco hit in 1978 with "Get Off" (Dash 5046). The song spent two weeks at #1 on Billboard's R&B charts and went to #9 on the Hot 100 pop charts.

Father of television news anchor Audrey Puente (works for local NBC station in New York City). She has also worked as a meteorologist for WCBS-TV in New York.

Father of singer Tito Puente, Jr.

Godfather of drummer/actress/former Prince protege, Sheila E.

Along with Mario Bauza, Machito and Dizzy Gillespie, Puente was responsible for the continued popularity of Afro-Cuban originated Latin jazz well into the later 20th century.

He was the timbalero (timbales player) who began playing the instrument while standing in front of an orchestra. Before Puente, timbales had always been played from a seated postion in the rear of the orchestra.

Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1995.

His daughter, Audrey Puente, is a meteorologist for WCBS-TV in New York.

He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1997 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, DC.

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