Pacheco, fatigued by his own battles over royalties with his label, finally tapped Italian American lawyer Jerry Mascucci to co-found their own imprint in 1964 - now known as Fania Records. In tandem with an influx of Cuban immigrants to the city, Pacheco and his milieu ushered in the 1960s Latin dance craze, the Pachanga. By 1960, Pacheco signed with Alegre Records and launched his own ensemble, titled Johnny Pacheco y su Charanga, a group that refashioned the syncretic Spanish-African folk tradition of son Cubano by taking cues from merengue, cha-cha-chá and other tropical genres that found a home in New York City. Pacheco spent his young adult years hopping from band to band, sharing ensembles with Nuyorican contemporaries like Charlie Palmieri, Eddie Palmieri and Tito Puente. It was after a short stint as an engineering student at Brooklyn Tech that he pivoted to the Juilliard School of Music, where he specialized in Latin percussion. From there he dedicated himself to two courses of study - engineering and music. The Pacheco family emigrated from the Dominican Republic to the Bronx in 1946, when Johnny was 11 years old. We honor their life's work and remember all their classics with a playlist for you to enjoy.Born in the Dominican Republic, Pacheco inherited his musical prowess from his father, Rafael Azarias Pacheco, bandleader and clarinetist of the renowned Santa Cecilia Orchestra. They helped give a voice to Afro-Latinxs across the US, connecting them to their roots in El Caribe, South America, Africa and beyond. They shaped the sounds of the genre and popularized them into mainstream radio, media, movies, musicals and dance halls across the US, and the world.įrom the US, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela the members of La Fania All-Stars and Celia inspired many generations of musicians. They sought to integrate the sounds and energy of Africa into their music with tambores, plenas, bongos, tons of soulful voices, and plenty of charisma and personality. Johnny and Celia were proud of both their Latin and African heritage. In 2015, it was selected by Billboard magazine as one of the '50 Essential Latin Albums of the Last 50 Years.'Ĭelia was a regular guest of honor when La Fania toured the world, with humble upbringings in La Habana, Celia started her music career with La Sonora Matancera then exile to Mexico and then the US where she blossom to become “La Reina de la Salsa” with many hits songs as Quimbara, Burundanga, La vida es un carnaval and La negra tiene tumbao to name a few.

In 2014, the Library of Congress named “Celia & Johnny” to the National Recording Registry. In 1974, Johnny Pacheco teamed up with Cuban star Celia Cruz and produced one of the quintessential albums in Latin Music, simply titled “Celia & Johnny.” The album paved the road for singing talents such as Ruben Blades, Adalberto Santiago, Cheo Feliciano, Ismael Miranda, Willie Colon, Pete 'El Conde' Rodriguez, Hector Lavoe, and many others.

All of them evolved to become the category known today as Salsa. The group comprised music collaborators, singers, producers and personalities who came together to tell the story of their daily struggles in the big city, their stories of migrating to the US, of eternally missing their motherland while also celebrating the many joys of life.īack then this wasn't categorize as 'Salsa.' It was a fusion of Latin rhythms, Rumba, Mambo, Guaguanco, Sonmontuno, Latin Funk and Jazz, Ballads, Boogaloo, among many others. The group gave many aspiring Latin musicians the opportunity to showcase their talents under the influential hand of Johnny Pacheco. The Fania All-Stars took off in the 1970's in New York City. These creative geniuses reinterpreted rhythms and infused them into myriad styles - creating new genres and adding life to old ones in the process.

Since the 1960's, many rising stars from Motown have gone on to create classic Rock & Roll tunes, Jazz masterpieces, and Latin rhythms, to name a few. Without the contributions of this talented Dominican born Afro-Latino, we wouldn’t have the gift of the genre we now call “Salsa.” Let’s give Johnny Pacheco, a founding member of La Fania All-stars, his due.

Celia cruz johnny pacheco