Miguelito Valdés (singer)

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Miguel Ángel Eugenio Lázaro Zacarías Izquierdo Valdés Hernández (born September 6, 1912 in Havana , † November 9, 1978 in Bogotá ), known as Miguelito Valdés or Mr. Babalú , was a Cuban singer, bandleader and actor.

During his childhood in Havana, Valdés was friends with Arsenio Rodríguez , Chano Pozo and Félix Chappottín , among others . After attending school for six years, he began training as a car mechanic at the age of eleven. He later worked as an amateur boxer and became Cuban welterweight champion in 1929. He finally began his music career as a member of the Sexteto Habanero Juvenil . After two years of guitar and singing lessons with María Teresa Vera , he became the chorus singer of the Sexteto Occidente .

From 1933 to 1936 he lived in Panama and was there from 1934 singer in the orchestra of Lucho Azcarraga . After his return, Manolo Castro brought him into his band Los Hermanos Castro . With several other musicians he separated from this band in 1937 and founded the Orquesta Casino de Playa (with Anselmo Sacasas , Walfredo de los Reyes and Guillermo Portela, among others ). The orchestra received daily broadcasts on radio station CMQ , went on concert tours through Latin America and recorded more than 200 singles with RCA Victor , including Margarita Lecounas Babalú (1939), the hit after which he was named Mr. Babalú .

After he had recorded several songs as a singer with the Orquesta Havana-Riverside under the direction of Enrique González Mántici in early 1940 , Valdés went to New York with Anselmo Sacasas in May of that year. Sacasas founded his own orchestra there (to which the seventeen-year-old Tito Puente also belonged), while Valdés performed briefly with Alberto Iznaga's Orquesta Siboney (to which Machito also belongs as a singer) before Xavier Cugat brought him to his orchestra with a five-year contract.

Cugat made recordings with RCA Victor and Columbia Records ; he has performed with Cugat's Orchestra at the Waldorf Astoria and has appeared in several Hollywood films, including You Were Never Lovelier (1942) with Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth . From 1942 he pursued a solo career and appeared in prominent New York clubs. With Machito and his Afro-Cubans he recorded two albums with Decca Records with hits like Bim Bam Bum , Oye Negra and Rica Pulpa . Between 1942 and 1944 he appeared in twelve films in Mexico.

From September 1944 he lived in Los Angeles. There recordings were made with La Sonora Matancera and Noro Morales . He also appeared in the films Panamericana (1945) and Night In The Tropics (1946, with Machito and his band and at the side of Betty Reilly ). In 1946 he founded his own big band, which he led until 1954. With the SMC label he recorded 22 tracks (with the pianists René Hernández , Eddie Cano and Al Escobar and the percussionist Little Ray Romero ), and others were recorded by Musicraft Records .

In 1954 he broke up his band and toured with the pianist Luisito Benjamín . As his success waned because of the emerging rock 'n' roll music, he retired in Los Angeles. In 1963 Mario Bauzá invited him to recordings for the LP Reunion with Machito. This revitalized his career, there were several albums, including Inolvidables (1967, with Chico O'Farrill , Machito, Victor Paz and Patato Valdez ). From 1966 to 1976 he also had his own television show. After suffering a heart attack in Mexico in March 1978, he died on November 9th during a performance at the Hotel Tequemada in Bogotá.

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personal data
SURNAME Valdés, Miguelito
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Valdés Hernández, Miguel Ángel Eugenio Lázaro Zacarías Izquierdo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban singer, band leader and actor
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Havana
DATE OF DEATH November 9, 1978
Place of death Bogotá