Gerald "Jerry" Masucci (October 7, 1934 – December 21, 1997) was an American attorney, businessman and was co-founder of

Fania Records Fania Records is a New York City, New York–based record label founded by Dominican-born composer and bandleader Johnny Pacheco and his American lawyer Jerry Masucci in 1964 in music, 1964. The label took its name from a popular luncheonette fre ...

Biography

Masucci was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

to Italian immigrant parents Urbano and Elvira Masucci. He was a

police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

in New York City before attending, and during law school. In 1960, he graduated from

New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private, American law school in the Tribeca neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The third oldest law school in New York City, its history predates its official founding in 1891 by Theodore William Dwight, T ...

as a

juris doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

. He then worked for a public relations firm in Cuba, where he became interested in Latin music. In 1964 in New York City, Masucci, then a divorce attorney, and

Johnny Pacheco Juan Pablo Knipping Pacheco (25 March 1935 – 15 February 2021), known as Johnny Pacheco, was a Dominican musician, arranger, composer, bandleader, and record producer. Born in the Dominican Republic, Pacheco became a leading figure in the New ...

, a Dominican musician, established Fania Records. They started out selling records out of the trunk of cars on the streets of

Spanish Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, or , is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the east ...

, signing up young artists, creating new sounds, and eventually having hit records. Over the next 15 years, Fania Records helped define the sound, culture, and language associated with the salsa genre, a musical movement that arose partly from the unavailability in the United States of music produced in Cuba. In 1980, he was running Fame, a modeling agency. Masucci died of

aortic aneurysm An aortic aneurysm is an enlargement (dilatation) of the aorta to greater than 1.5 times normal size. Typically, there are no symptoms except when the aneurysm dissects or ruptures, which causes sudden, severe pain in the abdomen and lower back ...

caused by a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

on December 21, 1997 at age 63. It was reported that he had three daughters, Darlene, Misty and Corinne.

Discography

Studio albums

*''A Tribute to Tito Rodríguez'' (Fania, 1976) *''Latin Connection'' (Fania, 1981) *''Social Change'' (Fania, 1981) *''Guasasa'' (Fania, 1989) *''Ray Barretto ACID (Fania 1968)

Live albums

*''Live at the Red Garter, Vol. 1'' (Fania, 1968) *''Live at the Red Garter, Vol. 2'' (Fania, 1969) *''Live at the Cheetah, Vol. 1'' (Fania, 1972) *''Live at the Cheetah, Vol. 2'' (Fania, 1972) *''Live at the Cheetah, Vol. 2'' (Fania, 1973) *''Latin-Soul-Rock'' (Fania, 1974) *''Fania All-Stars'' (Island, 1975) *''Live in Japan 76'' (Fania, 1976) *''Live at Yankee Stadium, Vol. 1'' (Fania, 1976) *''Live at Yankee Stadium, Vol. 2'' (Fania, 1976) *''Live'' (Fania, 1978) *''Habana Jam'' (Fania, 1979) *''Live in Africa'' (Fania, 1986)

DVDs

*'' Our Latin Thing'' (Fania 1972) *''Salsa'' (Fania, 1974) *''In Africa'' (Fania, 1993) *''Live'' (Fania, 1995)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massucci, Jerry 1934 births 1997 deaths New York Law School alumni People from Brooklyn Fania Records artists Record producers from New York (state) Music promoters New York (state) lawyers American people of Italian descent 20th-century American businesspeople New York City Police Department officers 20th-century American lawyers