Ruben Blades Biography
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 16 July 1948, Panama City, Panama. Blades was brought up in a musical family, with his mother Anoland an accomplished pianist and singer, and his father Rubén Snr. a bongo player. In 1966, while still at school, he became a vocalist with the band Conjunto Latino. He then switched to Los Salvajes Del Ritmo, staying with this band until 1969. In 1970, he travelled to New York to record De Panama A Nuevo York with the band of ex-boogaloo star Pete ‘El Conde’ Rodríguez. After graduating from the University of Panama, he worked as a lawyer with the National Bank of Panama. In 1974, while visiting his family in Miami (they had relocated there in 1973), Blades made a side trip to New York and secured a job in the mailroom of Fania Records. When Tito Allen left Ray Barretto’s band in 1974, Blades was recommended to the band leader. Barretto auditioned him in the mailroom, and in July of that year Blades appeared at Madison Square Garden with Barretto’s band, and performed on the following year’s Barretto.
When Barretto left to form a fusion concert band, Blades stayed with his former musicians (renamed Guarare) for a short while, as well as appearing on the Barretto Live: Tomorrow, the debut set by Barretto’s new band. He composed and sang lead vocals on Willie Colón’s hit track ‘El Cazangero’, featured on his 1975 set The Good, The Bad, The Ugly. The song won him the Composer Of The Year award in the 1976 Latin NY magazine poll. Blades supplied songs for a number of bands and artists during the 70s, including Ricardo Ray and Bobby Cruz, Ismael Miranda, Bobby Rodríguez Y La Compañia, Cheo Feliciano, Conjunto Candela, Tito Rodríguez II, Tito Puente, Roberto Roena, Tito Gómez, Héctor Lavoe and Pete ‘El Conde’ Rodríguez. Twelve original recordings of his compositions by other artists were collected on 1981’s Interpretan A Rubén Blades. In 1976 he joined the Fania All Stars, making his debut with them on that year’s Tribute To Tito Rodríguez. He continued as a member until 1980. Three years earlier, he sang lead and chorus on Larry Harlow’s acclaimed salsa suite La Raza Latina. Blades’ partnership with Willie Colón began in earnest with 1977’s Metiendo Mano! (released in the UK on the Caliente label in 1988). They collaborated on four more albums. Siembra (1978) went gold and was regarded as ‘the Renaissance of Salsa’. The controversial double album Maestra Vida (1980), incorporated theatrical elements and also received a gold record. Canciones Del Solar De Los Aburridos (Songs From The Place Of Bored People) was nominated for a Grammy Award. The Last Fight was released in tandem with the 1982 movie of the same name, in which Blades and Colón both starred. The movie was Fania Records’ boss Jerry Masucci’s attempt to break into the film industry, but it fared badly. At the same time, Blades was playing a leading role over the issue of alleged non-payment of royalties by the label and there was speculation that he tried to form a union of Fania’s artists in 1979. Masucci eventually sold Fania for a million dollars to an Argentinian business group called Valsyn and retained a constancy affiliation with the label. Blades switched to Elektra Records in 1984. His debut for the label, Buscando America, was recorded with a sextet, Seis Del Solar. The album also introduced modern rock and pop elements into the mix, substituting synthesizers for salsa’s traditional horns. Blades starred in 1985’s low-budget Crossover Dreams, and also contributed songs to the soundtrack album. Blades made his UK concert debut with Seis Del Solar in 1986, but his plunge into crossover territory with 1988’s rock-orientated, English-language Nothing But The Truth flopped. He returned to a more traditional style for the same year’s Spanish-language, Grammy award-winning Antecedente, on which his backing band (renamed Son Del Solar) was augmented by a trombone section. The arrangements (by keyboard player Oscar Hernández and bass player Mike Viñas) were reminiscent of his work with Colón. Blades subsequently developed a productive and successful acting career, starring in movies including Critical Condition (with Richard Pryor), The Milagro Beanfield War (with Robert Redford), The Lemon Sisters (with Diane Keaton) and The Two Jakes (with Jack Nicholson). He was the first Latino to win an ACE (American Cable Excellence) award for his portrayal of a death-row prisoner in 1989’s Dead Man Out. He also composed the music for Sidney Lumet’s Q And A. Blades provoked controversy in Panama, and his mother’s wrath, when he criticized the 1990 US invasion of Panama. In 1994 he finished a credible second in the Panamanian presidential elections. Musically Blades was relatively quiet until the release of 1996’s La Rosa De Los Vientos. Blades’ most significant contribution to salsa has been the quality of his lyrical content, which introduced a modern political edge and a wider perspective to the genre’s traditional forms. He has described his own work as ‘musical journalism’ and an ‘urban chronicle’. He is a giant figure of Latin music.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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16 July 1948, Panama City, Panama. Blades was brought up in a musical family, with his mother Anoland an accomplished pianist and singer, and his father Rubén Snr. a bongo player. In 1966, while still at school, he became a vocalist with the band Conjunto Latino. He then switched to Los Salvajes Del Ritmo, staying with this band until 1969. In 1970, he travelled to New York to record De Panama A Nuevo York with the band of ex-boogaloo star Pete ‘El Conde’ Rodríguez. After graduating from the University of Panama, he worked as a lawyer with the National Bank of Panama. In 1974, while visiting his family in Miami (they had relocated there in 1973), Blades made a side trip to New York and secured a job in the mailroom of Fania Records. When Tito Allen left Ray Barretto’s band in 1974, Blades was recommended to the band leader. Barretto auditioned him in the mailroom, and in July of that year Blades appeared at Madison Square Garden with Barretto’s band, and performed on the following year’s Barretto.