Manuel "Puntillita" Licea (Manuel Licea Lamut; January 4, 1921 in Yareyal,

Holguín Holguín (, ) is a municipality-city in Cuba. After Havana, Santiago de Cuba, and Camagüey, it is the List of cities in Cuba, fourth largest city in Cuba. History Before Christopher Columbus, Columbus, the Taino people settled in huts made fro ...

– December 4, 2000 in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n popular singer. Puntillita was active in the 1940s and 1950s, and later gained notice when he joined other elderly Cuban musicians to form the

Afro-Cuban All Stars Afro-Cuban All Stars is a Cuban band led by Juan de Marcos González. Their music is a mix of all the styles of Cuban music, including bolero, chachachá, salsa, son montuno, timba, guajira, danzón, rumba and abakua. They are known internati ...

and the associated group of singers who recorded the ''

Buena Vista Social Club Buena Vista Social Club was a musical ensemble primarily made up of Cuban musicians, formed in 1996. The project was organized by World Circuit (record label), World Circuit executive Nick Gold, produced by American guitarist Ry Cooder and dire ...

'' with American guitarist

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, and h ...

Career

Puntillita was a member of the ''Hermanos Licea'' in the 1940s in

Camagüey Camagüey () is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third-largest city with more than 333,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province. It was founded as Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe in 1514, by Sp ...

. He began singing with the ''Orquesta Escorcia'', and played percussion in the ''Orquesta Tentación''. In 1945 he went to Havana to sing in trumpeter

Julio Cueva Julio Cueva ( Trinidad, Cuba, 12 April 1897 – Havana, 25 December 1975) was a Cuban trumpeter, composer and band leader. He was an important figure in the spread of Cuban popular music in the 1930s. Life and career Cueva played cornet in the l ...

's band. He got his nickname from ''Son de la puntillita'', which he sang with this band. He went on to achieve huge popularity in the 1950s as a soloist on ''Radio Cadena Habana''. In

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

he performed at ''El Patio'', singing with

Celia Cruz Celia Caridad Cruz Alfonso (21 October 1925 – 16 July 2003), known as Celia Cruz, was a Cuban singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during the 1950s as a singer of , earning the nickna ...

and

Beny Moré Beny or Bény may refer to: Given name * Beny Alagem (born 1953), Israeli-American businessman * Beny Parnes (born 1959), Brazilian economist * Beny Primm (1928–2015), American physician and HIV/AIDS researcher * Beny Steinmetz (born 1956), Is ...

. With the conjunto ''Gloria Matancera'' he played at the ''Cabaret Antillano''. In the 1990s,

Juan de Marcos González Juan de Marcos González (born Juan de Marcos González-Cárdenas; January 29, 1954) is a Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of isl ...

approached Puntillita to join the

, which featured many musicians from Havana's pre-revolutionary era. He toured

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and Europe with the group. Puntillita was also later asked by Gonzalez to appear with Ry Cooder in the Buena Vista Social Club. Puntillita sang with

Ibrahim Ferrer Ibrahim Ferrer (20 February 1927 – 6 August 2005) was a Cuban singer who played with the group Los Bocucos for nearly forty years. He also performed with Conjunto Sorpresa, Chepín y su Orquesta Oriental, and Mario Patterson. After his re ...

and guitarist

Eliades Ochoa Eliades Ochoa Bustamante (born 22 June 1946) is a Cuban guitarist and singer from Loma de la Avispa, Songo La Maya in the east of the country near Santiago de Cuba. He began playing the guitar when he was six and in 1978 he was invited to joi ...

on ''Cuarto de Tula'' and sang lead on La Bayamesa, the Cuban national anthem. The record won a

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

in 1998.Giro, Radamés 2007. ''Diccionario enciclopédico de la música en Cuba''. La Habana. Vol 3, p273 He died in 2000, aged 79.

References

External links

Manuel 'Puntillita' Licea Lamot obituary
{{authority control 1921 births 2000 deaths People from Holguín 20th-century Cuban male singers Buena Vista Social Club

Career

See also

References

External links