0
Benny Moré
Benny Moré
Cuban musician
1
Xavier Cugat
Xavier Cugat
Spanish musician
2
Tito Puente
Tito Puente
American musician, songwriter and record producer (1923-2000)
3
Eddie Calvert
Eddie Calvert
English trumpeter
4
Orquesta Casino de la Playa
Orquesta Casino de la Playa
5
Bobby Sanabria
Bobby Sanabria
American musician
6
Cándido Camero
Cándido Camero
Cuban percussionist
7
Luis Demetrio
Luis Demetrio
Mexican singer and composer
8
Arsenio Rodríguez
Arsenio Rodríguez
Cuban musician
9
Armando Peraza
Armando Peraza
Cuban percussionist
10
Chico O'Farrill
Chico O'Farrill
Cuban composer and musician
11
Jack Costanzo
Jack Costanzo
American musician
12
Warren Covington
Warren Covington
American big band trombonist
13
Billy May
Billy May
American composer, arranger and trumpeter
14
Cal Tjader
Cal Tjader
American Latin jazz musician, recording artist
15
René Touzet
René Touzet
American bandleader
16
Alan Dale
Alan Dale
American singer
17
Javier Álvarez
Javier Álvarez
Mexican composer
18
Edmundo Ros
Edmundo Ros
Trinidadian-British musician, vocalist, arranger and bandleader
19
Cachao
Cachao
Cuban musician
20
Tony Mottola
Tony Mottola
guitarist (1918-2004)
21
Machito
Machito
Latin jazz musician
22
Claus Ogerman
Claus Ogerman
German composer
23
Mario Bauzá Cárdenas
Mario Bauzá Cárdenas
American musician
24
Larry Elgart
Larry Elgart
American jazz bandleader (1922-2017)
25
Miguelito Valdés
Miguelito Valdés
Cuban singer (1912-1978)
26
Caterina Valente
Caterina Valente
Italian multilingual singer, guitarist, dancer, and actress
27
Shorty Rogers
Shorty Rogers
American West coast jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, and arranger (1924-1994)
28
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist (1924-1994)
29
Vitín Avilés
Vitín Avilés
singer
30
Sonora Matancera
Sonora Matancera
Cuban band
Pérez Prado
Cuban bandleader, pianist, composer and arranger

Pérez Prado

Intro
Cuban bandleader, pianist, composer and arranger
Genres
Record Labels
RCA
Awards Received
star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Dámaso Pérez Prado (December 11, 1916 – September 14, 1989) was a Cuban bandleader, pianist, composer and arranger who popularized the mambo in the 1950s. His big band adaptation of the danzón-mambo proved to be a worldwide success with hits such as "Mambo No. 5", earning him the nickname "King of the Mambo". In 1955, Prado and his orchestra topped the charts in the US and UK with a mambo cover of Louiguy's "Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)". He frequently made brief appearances in films, primarily of the rumberas genre, and his music was featured in films such as La Dolce Vita.

Pérez Prado began his career as pianist and arranger for the Sonora Matancera, an internationally successful dance music ensemble from his hometown of Matanzas. He later established his own group and made several recordings in Havana in 1946, including "Trompetiana", a self-penned mambo and one of the first examples arranged for big band. He then moved to Mexico where the developed this particular genre in multiple forms, including bolero-mambo (with María Luisa Landín), guaracha-mambo (with Benny Moré) and two forms of instrumental mambo he created: mambo batiri and mambo kaen. The success of his 1949 recordings landed him a contract with RCA Victor in the US, which led to a prolific career in the 1950s. His number 1 hit "Cherry Pink" was followed by other charting singles, such as a cover of "Guaglione" and his own "Patricia", both released in 1958. In the 1960s, Pérez Prado's popularity waned with the advent of other Latin dance rhythms such as pachanga and, later, boogaloo. Despite several innovative albums and a new form of mambo he called "dengue", Pérez Prado moved back to Mexico in the 1970s, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1980. He died there in 1989. His son, Pérez Jr., continues to direct the Pérez Prado Orchestra in Mexico City to this day.


Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).