Joe Cuba was born in 1931 in the city of New York, is a Puerto Rican musician who is considered to be the "Father of Latin Boogaloo".



Cuba's parents moved from Puerto Rico to New York City in the late 1920s and settled in Spanish Harlem, a Hispanic ghetto located in Manhattan. Cuba was raised in an apartment building where his father had become the owner of a candy store located on the ground floor (street level floor). His father had organized a stickball (ghetto baseball) club called the Devils. Stickball was the main sport activity of the neighborhood. After Cuba broke a leg he took up playing the conga and continued to practice with the conga between school and his free time. Eventually he graduated from high school and joined a band.



In 1950, when he was 19 years old, he played for J. Panama and also for a group called La Alfarona X. The group soon disbanded and Cuba enrolled in college to study law. While at college he attended a concert in which Tito Puente performed "Abaniquito". He went up to Tito and introduced himself as a student and fan and soon they developed what was to become a lifetime friendship. This event motivated Cuba to organize his own band. In 1954, his agent recommended that he change the band's name from the Jose Calderon Sextet to the Joe Cuba Sextet and the newly named Joe Cuba Sextet made their debut at the Stardust Ballroom.



In 1962, Cuba recorded "To Be With You" with the vocals of Cheo Feliciano and Jimmy Sabater. The band became popular in the New York Latin community. The lyrics to Cuba's music used a mixture of Spanish and English, becoming an important part of the Nuyorican Movement. In 1967, his band which included timbales, vibraphones, and the piano among its musical instruments, scored a "hit" in the United States National Hit Parade List with the song "Bang Bang" - a song which ushered in the Latin Boogaloo era. He also had a #1 hit, that year in the Billboards with the song "Sock It To Me Baby".



On April 1999, Joe Cuba was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame. In 2004, he was named Grand Marshall of the Puerto Rican Day Parade celebrated in Yonkers, New York. He currently is the director of the Museum of La Salsa, located in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York.



In 2007, on his first CD as a leader - '¡Gracias Joe Cuba!' - percussionist Nils Fischer put together an international all-star cast - including 2007 Grammy winner Brian Lynch, former Issac Delgado bassist Alain Pérez, and Cuba's timbal genius Pepe Espinosa and the very best of Europe’s Latin musicians like Lucas van Merwijk, Leslie Lopez and Gerardo Rosales.

The album is an ode to Cuba's sextet, with which he played for so many years. On this album the classic Joe Cuba vibraphone sound is enhanced with a tight six piece horn section and three very talented singers: Alberto Caicedo, Nando Vanin and Fabian Nodarse. The exuberant arrangements of 16 of Cuba's songs are made by Alain Pérez, Hollands top Latin arranger Marc Bischoff and Nueva Manteca's Jan Hartong. To top it off, legendary recording engineer and multiple Grammy winner Jon Fausty lent his superb touch to the post-production in another exquisite mix and mastering job.



Joe Cuba himself about '¡Gracias Joe Cuba!':

"I enjoy Nils' recording very much, and I already have listened to the recording a lot. I like the unique and very interesting concept! Many bands nowadays just copy the old stuff but Nils and his musicians have really created something new. Nils' conga playing is great! People should hear this. Congratulations, Nils - ¡Que Chévere!"