Gilberto Miguel Calderón (April 22, 1931 – February 15, 2009), Calderón's parents moved from Puerto Rico to New York City in the late 1920s, and settled in Spanish Harlem, a Latino community located in Manhattan. Calderón was raised in an apartment building, where his father had become the owner of a candy store, located on the ground floor (street level floor). His father had organized a stickball club called the Young Devils. Stickball was the main sport activity of the neighborhood. After Calderón broke a leg he took up playing the conga and continued to practice with the conga between school and his free time. Eventually, he graduated from high school and joined a band.

Musical career

In 1950, when he was 19 years old, he played for Joe Panama and also for a group called La Alfarona X. The group soon disbanded and Calderón enrolled in college to study law. While at college he attended a concert in which Tito Puente performed "Abaniquito". He went up to Puente and introduced himself as a student and fan, and soon they developed what was to become a lifetime friendship. This event motivated Calderón to organize his own band. In 1954, his agent recommended that he change the band's name from the José Calderón Sextet to the Joe Cuba Sextet,

In 1965, the Sextet got their first crossover hit with the Latin and soul music fusion of "El Pito (I'll Never Go Back to Georgia)".

Along with fellow Nuyorican artists such as Ray Barretto and Richie Ray, Cuba was at the forefront of the developing Latin soul sound in New York, merging American R&B styles with Afro-Cuban instrumentation. Cuba was one of the key architects behind the emerging Latin boogaloo sound, The record peaked at No. 63 on the Hot 100,

Later years and death

In April 1999, Joe Cuba was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame. In 2004, he was named Grand Marshal of the Puerto Rican Day Parade celebrated in Yonkers, New York. He was also the director of the Museum of La Salsa, located in Spanish Harlem, Manhattan, New York.

Joe Cuba died on February 15, 2009, in New York City, after being removed from life support. He is survived by his two adult children (Mitchell & Lisa) from his first wife (Nina, married in 1960)

  • Wanted Dead or Alive (Bang! Bang! Push, Push, Push) (Tico LP-1146, 1966; CD reissue: Fania/Código Music 463 950 9010, 2010) (No. 131 US)