Died On This Date (March 10, 2009) Ralph Mercado / “The Berry Gordy of Salsa”
themusicsover Ralph Mercado
September 29, 1941 – March 10, 2009
Ralph Mercado was a successful Latin music impresario who had his hands in many facets of the entertainment industry. He started out promoting Latin jazz shows in clubs throughout Manhattan, but it was just a matter of time before he was putting on Salsa shows at the Hollywood Bowl and Madison Square Garden. During the early ’70s, Mercado opened his own management company where he represented the likes of Celia Cruz and Tito Puente. In 1987, he started his own label, RMM Records, the home to over 100 Latin artists. He sold the label to Universal Music in 2001. The success he achieved and the Salsa music dynasty he built lead to his being called “the Berry Gordy of Salsa.” On March 10, 2009, Ralph Mercado died of cancer at the age of 67.
Byrd Burton is best remembered for his time as guitarist for popular country rock band, the Amazing Rhythm Aces. Burton’s guitar talents can be heard on such records as their 1975 hit single, and their 1976 Grammy-winning “The End is Not in Sight (The Cowboy Tune).” Burton left the band in 1977 and went on to have a successful career as a session player. In the studio, he played on records by the likes of Nanci Griffith, Emmylou Harris, as well as on Don Williams’ “Tulsa Time.” He was also in the touring bands of Brooks & Dunn, Dolly Parton and 
Micky Jones was the founding lead singer and influential guitarist for ’70s Welsh rock band, Man. They were one of the acts that helped popularize what became known as British “pub rock,” a back-to-basics trend in rock that was also being cultivated by the likes of Brinsley Schwarz, Graham Parker, and Dave Edmunds. As time passed, Man’s sound grew more psychedelic, often drawing comparisons to the Grateful Dead or Quicksilver Messenger Service. In fact, it could be argued that they were the world’s first jamband. Though relatively unknown in the U.S., the band had several moderate hits in the U.K. and were very popular concert draws. The original group split up in 1976, but Jones reformed a variation of it in 1980 and continued to make a solid living along the pub rock circuit through the ’90s. In 2005, Micky Jones was diagnosed with a brain tumor, which lead him to permanently leave the group for treatment. The cancer ultimately took his life on March 10, 2010. He was 63.
Christopher Wallace (aka The Notorious B.I.G.; Biggie Smalls) was an east coast rapper signed to Sean “Puffy” Combs’ Bad Boy Records. Although Wallace had some run-ins with the law, his musical talent could not be denied. And just as that talent was catapulting him to the upper stratosphere of the musical world, Wallace’s reported life of crime and involvement in a festering east coast vs west coast feud, he was executed in a hail of bullets outside the Soul Train Awards in Los Angeles, CA. Christopher Wallace was just 24 when he was allegedly assassinated during a drive-by shooting. The crime remains unsolved and is ripe with theories involving Marion “Suge” Knight, the LAPD, the Crips and the Bloods. Wallace was married to R&B singer, Faith Evans.
