Puente, (Ernesto Antonio) Tito (1920-2000)

US bandleader, percussionist, and composer. From the 1960s to the 1980s he made over 40 albums, some fusing Latin with other musical styles and traditions. He left his big band in 1980 and moved into more jazz-like music with a smaller ensemble, performing at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1984. He continued to be popular as North America's ‘grand old man’ of Latin American music and appeared as himself in the film The Mambo Kings in 1992.

Born in New York City, of Puerto Rican parentage, he served in World War II and then studied at Juilliard. In 1947 he formed what became the Tito Puente Orchestra and became a leader of the mambo and cha-cha-cha fads in the 1950s.