Ralph Mercado Jr. (September 29, 1941 – March 10, 2009) was an American businessman and music promoter. He promoted

Latin American music The music of Latin America refers to music originating from Latin America, namely the Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese-speaking regions of the Americas south of the United States. Latin American music highly incorpor ...

—

Latin Jazz Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave (rhythm), clave, and Afro-Brazil ...

Latin rock Latin Rock is a term to describe a subgenre blending traditional sounds and elements of Latin American and Hispanic Caribbean folk with rock music. However, it is widely used in the English-language media to refer any kind of rock music featurin ...

, merengue and salsa — and established a network of businesses that included promoting concerts, managing artists, Ritmo Mundo Musical (RMM) a

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

the most important in the Latin industry during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, as well as a film company, nightclubs and restaurants.

Early life

Mercado was born on September 29, 1941, 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 a father who was a Dominican dockworker and a Puerto Rican mother who was employed by a local factory. He told an interviewer that he was able to dance the merengue as soon as he learned how to walk. In his early teens, he was "completely blown away" after seeing the

Machito Frank Grillo (born Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo; December 3, 1909 – April 15, 1984) known professionally as Machito (previously as Macho), was a Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music ...

Orchestra perform at the

Palladium Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), ...

, and he left "knowing I had to be involved in this music somehow, personally involved". Lacking any musical skill as a singer or performer, he started promoting "waistline parties", live music events in apartment building basements in which women were charged in proportion to their waist size, with thinner women charged less, and Mercado measuring at the door.

Career

Shifting across the

East River The East River is a saltwater Estuary, tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island, ...

from his Brooklyn roots, Mercado started promoting Latin jazz at

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

clubs such as The Village Gate. These expanded into concerts at major venues with stars such as

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

, who appeared with Latin acts such as Mongo Santamaría. He turned to managing performers, founding RMM Management in 1972, where his clients included

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

Tito Puente Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – May 31, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, timbalero, and record producer. He composed dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz music. He was also k ...

, achieving acclaim as the biggest salsa manager in the United States by the 1970s. He developed new talent, such as

La India Linda Bell Viera Caballero (born March 9, 1969), known professionally as La India, is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter of salsa, house music and Latin pop. La India has been nominated for both Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards, winning the L ...

and

Marc Anthony Marco Antonio Muñiz (born September 16, 1968), known professionally as Marc Anthony, is an American singer and actor. He is the top selling salsa artist of all time. A four-time Grammy Award, eight-time Latin Grammy Award and twenty-nine-tim ...

, presenting salsa concerts at major venues across the country, from

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

to the

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre and Urban park, public park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in the United States by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018 and was listed on ...

. Mercado started RMM Records in 1987, which had in excess of 130 artists performing across the Latin music spectrum, representing merengue, salsa, Latin jazz and Latin rock. He rode the expanding size and economic power of the nation's Hispanic population and a general interest in salsa music. Mercado brought in international groups and influences from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and even

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He achieved acclaim as the most successful promoter of salsa music, comparable to

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), also known as Berry Gordy Jr., is an American retired record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label and i ...

's role in R&B. In 1991, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine described him as "the entrepreneur who took salsa from New York to the world". RMM Records was sold to the

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

in 2001 for about $26 million, including its Latin music catalog of as many as 400 master recordings, winning the rights over competitor

Sony Discos Sony Music Entertainment US Latin LLC (often referred to as Sony Music Latin) is an American record label owned by Sony Music. The label focuses on artists of Latin music. Sony Latin was also a division of the Sony Discos label. History In ...

. The sale came following financial difficulties exacerbated by the loss of a copyright infringement suit, in which composer Glenn Monroig won $7.7 million from a federal jury, which had grown to $11 million with interest, based on claims that RMM had modified one of his songs and used it without his permission or payment of royalties Navarro, Mireya
"For Sale: A Latin Music Legacy; Facing Bankruptcy, a Record Pioneer Draws Gratitude and Reproach"
''The New York Times'', June 7, 2001. Accessed March 11, 2009. Thereafter the sale of RMM, Ralph Mercado returned to promoting salsa concerts, on a global basis. He retained control of three music publishing firms, RMM Filmworks and Ralph Mercado Presents. He also owned, in whole or part, Manhattan clubs Babalu and the

Latin Quarter The Latin Quarter of Paris (, ) is an urban university campus in the 5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne. Known for its student life, lively atmosphere, and bistros, t ...

, as well as the Conga Room in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Awards and recognition

In 1998, Mercado received the El Premio ''Billboard'' Lifetime Achievement Award. On September 28, 2008, Mercado was honored by

Union City, New Jersey Union City is a City (New Jersey), city in the North Hudson, New Jersey, northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was List of municipalities in Ne ...

with the key to the city and a star on the Walk of Fame at Union City's

Park.

Personal life

Mercado had lived in Cresskill and

Hackensack, New Jersey Hackensack is the most populous municipality in and the county seat of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

, before moving to Cliffside Park, New Jersey, with his brothers John Ayala, Richard Ayala and Jorge Sanchez, and his sister Angelica Kreiger; he lived in Cliffside Park the rest of his life, although he also kept an apartment in Manhattan. He was a father to 4 daughters and one son. He died on March 10, 2009, at age 67 at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack from cancer.Levin, Jay
"Salsa impresario, Ralph Mercado, 67"
''

The Record (Bergen County) ''The Record'' (also called ''The North Jersey Record'', ''The Bergen Record'', ''The Sunday Record'' (Sunday edition) and formerly ''The Bergen Evening Record'') is a newspaper in New Jersey, United States. Serving Bergen, Essex, Hudson and ...

'', March 11, 2009. Accessed March 12, 2009.

References

RMM labels

SOHO Latino
* Sonero Discos * RMM International * TropiJazz * Merengazo * RMM Rocks

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mercado, Ralph American music industry executives American people of Dominican Republic descent American people of Puerto Rican descent Deaths from cancer in New Jersey Businesspeople from Brooklyn People from Cliffside Park, New Jersey People from Cresskill, New Jersey People from Hackensack, New Jersey 1941 births 2009 deaths