Willie Rosario (born April 27, 1924), is a Puerto Rican musician,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a dance band, rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhyth ...

salsa music Salsa music is a style of Latin American music, combining elements of Cuban and Puerto Rican influences. Because most of the basic musical components predate the labeling of salsa, there have been many controversies regarding its origin. Most ...

. He is also known as Mr. Afinque.

Early years

Rosario (birth name: Fernando Luis Rosario Marín) was born and raised in

Coamo, Puerto Rico Coamo (, ) is a town and municipality founded in 1579 in the south-central region of Puerto Rico, located north of Santa Isabel; south of Orocovis and Barranquitas; east of Villalba and Juana Díaz; and west of Aibonito and Salinas. The ...

, into a poor, but hard working family. His parents realized that as a child Willie was musically inclined and had him take

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

lessons at the age of six. He received his primary and secondary education in his hometown. His mother also had him take

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

classes; however, what he really was interested in was the

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

. In 1941, he formed a band called Coamex but, a year later when he was 17 years old, his family moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The family rented an apartment in a

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 ...

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

known as

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 ...

. Rosario came into contact and played the conga for various orchestras. After he graduated from high school, he continued his education and studied journalism and public relations. On one occasion Rosario visited the

Palladium Ballroom The Palladium Ballroom was a New York City night club. The US mambo craze that started in 1948 began at the Palladium Ballroom. On March 15, 1946, it opened at the northeast corner of Broadway and 53rd Street.''New York Post'', March 14, 1946; ...

in New York, where

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 ...

was playing the

timbales Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfic ...

. This was the beginning of his love affair with that instrument. He was 22 years old when he took classes with

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

Henry Adler.

Rosario's first band

In 1959, Rosario organized his first band and played for three years in the Club Caborrojeño in New York. When not playing, he worked as a disc jockey for WADO, a Spanish speaking radio station in New York. In 1962, he signed with the

Alegre Records Alegre Records was a New York City record label specialized in latin music. It was founded in 1956 by Al Santiago who owned a 1950s record store at 8522 Westchester Avenue in The Bronx named ''Casalegre'' and co-founded by clothing businessman B ...

label and traveled and performed with his band in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

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 ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...

and all over the United States. In the 1980s he opened the Tropicana Club in Puerto Rico, in association with fellow Puerto Rican musician Bobby Valentín.

Compositions

Among his best-known compositions and arrangements are "De Barrio Obrero a la Quince" ("De Barrio Obrero a la Quince" was written by Trinidad Clemente), "El Timbal de Carlitos", "Mi Amigo el Payaso" ("My Friend the Clown") with lyrics by Luis Antonio Ruiz, "El Revendón", "Lluvia" ("Rain"), "Cuando No Hay Cariño" ("When There's No Love"). Plus, he also composed the following

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

tunes "Flip, Flop", "Stop and Go" and "My Favorite Thing". Rosario also produced the following songs with the participation of

Gilberto Santa Rosa Gilberto Santa Rosa Cortés (), nicknamed "El Caballero de la Salsa" (The Gentleman of Salsa) (born August 21, 1962), is a Puerto Rican bandleader and singer of salsa and bolero. He is a six-time Grammy Award winner and has sold over three mi ...

, Tony Vega, Papo Lucca and Bobby Valentín; "Latin Jazz Go-Go-Go", "El Bravo soy Yo" ("I'm the Tough Guy"), "Too Too Much" and "Willie Rosario y su Ritmo".

Awards and recognitions

Among the awards and recognitions bestowed upon Rosario are a nomination in 1987 for a

Grammy Award 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 ...

for his song "Nueva Cosecha" ("New Harvest"), various gold and platinum Records, the Agüeybaná de Oro Award, ACE, Diplo and Paoli Awards. In 2000, the Puerto Rican Senate paid tribute to Rosario in recognition of his 40 years in the field of music. In 2002, he was inducted into The

International Latin Music Hall of Fame The International Latin Music Hall of Fame (ILMHF) was an annual event established in 1999 and held in New York City to honor artists who have largely contributed to the Latin music genre. In addition to the induction into the Hall of Fame, the a ...

. Rosario's last production was "La Banda Que Deleita". He continues to play many venues all around Puerto Rico, including the prestigious Puerto Rican World Salsa Congress and many times at "Dia Nacional de la Salsa" or the National Salsa Day in Puerto Rico. He has also played minor venues, such as Shots Bar & Grill in the Isla Verde Mall in late October 2006. Since his October 2006 performance, Willie Rosario and his band also performed for the Puerto Rican Medical Doctors' Association of El Paso (Texas) Gala in December 2007.

Discography

* ''El Bravo Soy Yo!'' (1963) * ''Fabuloso y Fantástico'' (1966) * ''Latin Jazz a Go-Go-Go'' (1967) * ''Two Too Much'' (1967) * ''Haida Huo'' (1968) * ''Boogaloo y Guaguancó'' (1968) * '' El Bravo de Siempre'' (1969) * ''De Donde Nace el Ritmo'' (1971) * ''Más Ritmo'' (1972) * ''Infinito'' (1973) * ''Otra Vez'' (1975) * ''Gracias Mundo'' (1977) * ''From the Depth of My Brain'' (1978) * ''El Rey del Ritmo!'' (1979) * ''El de a 20 de Willie'' (1980) * ''The Portrait of a Salsa Man'' (1981) * ''Atízame el Fogón'' (1982) * ''The Salsa Machine'' (1983) * ''Nuevos Horizontes'' (1984) * ''Afincando'' (1985) * ''Nueva Cosecha'' (1986) * ''A Man of Music'' (1987) * ''The Salsa Legend'' (1988) * ''Unique'' (1989) * ''Viva Rosario!'' (1990) * ''The Roaring Fifties'' (1991) * ''Tradición Clásica'' (1993) * ''¡Sorpresas!'' (1995) * ''Back to the Future'' (1999) * ''La Banda Que Deleita'' (2006) * ''Evidencia'' (2016)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosario, Willie 1924 births Living people People from Coamo, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican men centenarians American men centenarians Puerto Rican musicians Puerto Rican composers Puerto Rican male composers Salsa musicians People from East Harlem