Joe Cuba (Born Gilberto Calderon)
April 22, 1931 – February 15, 2009
Joe Cuba was a Puerto Rican conga player who has been called the “Father of Latin Boogaloo.” He began playing professionally when he was 19 years old, and 12 years later, made his first recording. His career spanned nearly 60 years. During the ’60s, Cuba became very popular in New York City after he started merging the R&B with Afro-Cuban percussion. It became a style of music called Latin Boogaloo. Joe Cuba died as the result of a bacterial infection on February 15, 2009. He was 77 years old.
What You Should Own
Very sad end
The image of the young man behind the three decorated tack-head conga drums is actually NOT a picture of Joe Cuba. This is a mistake. A panel of experts (not least of which included the well known bandleader and percussionist Bobby Sanabria, has concluded that the image is one of Pantaleon Perez Prado the lesser known brother of the world famous bandleader and mambo king Damaso Perez Prado. We do not know exactly how this mistaken photographed was decided upon, but it is certainly not a photograph of the late Joe Cuba.