Luis Felipe Rodríguez, better known as Felipe "La Voz" Rodríguez, (May 8, 1926 – May 26, 1999) born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, was a singer of boleros. He is regarded as the most popular Puerto Rican male singer of the 1950s based on record sales and live audience records. Many of Rodríguez's recordings are often considered to be classics in Puerto Rico.

Early years

Rodríguez was born in the Savarona section of Caguas, the son of a sharecropper and a midwife. He had a rough childhood; his father died before he was born. In 1930, his mother Carmen moved to Santurce and settled in Barrio Obrero, a working class district of San Juan. There, Rodríguez went to school and practiced his singing skills during his free time. Julito Rodríguez (no relation to Felipe), another bolero singer, heard Rodriguez sing and invited him to form a singing duo; they later they formed a trio called "Los Romanceros" (The Romanceers) and he first took part in a radio program, the popular amateur showcase "Tribuna del Arte", hosted and produced by Rafael Quiñones Vidal.

United States tour

Rodríguez went on tour in the United States where he broke the attendance and ticket records previously set for the Hispanic audience by Argentine singer Libertad Lamarque. In 1954, Rodríguez met Pedro Ortíz Davila ("Davilita") and formed a very successful duo performing in such places as the Teatro Puerto Rico. Even though "Davilita"'s voice was not as sharp as it was when he was younger, they were able to have many hits together, particularly the Pedro Flores song "La Rosa Blanca" (The White Rose). In the 1960s, they, together with Rafael Cortijo and El Gran Combo confronted the new wave of rock music which was invading the island head-on.

Legacy

The city of Caguas named the main auditorium of its own Center for Performing Arts as the Felipe Rodríguez Hall. A book written by music historian Pedro Malavet Vega "La Vellonera esta directa" has been written, chiefly about Rodríguez's life, and using his career trajectory as a backdrop and timetable for many other cultural and sociological events that occurred in Puerto Rico between the late 1940s and early 1960s.

See also

  • Puerto Rican poetry
  • List of Puerto Ricans
  • Marta Romero

References

  • Popular Culture