Music of Puerto Rico - Artists: Lalo Rodriguez

Rodriguez, Lalo - Salsa

Bio adapted from text courtesy of the artist's agent: Chino Rodriguez and translated by Jaime Serrat

His love of music began when he sang in the traditional patron saint festivals in Puerto Rico, and on television and radio when he was nine years old. The first recording of his professional career came seven years later.

According to the artist, the story behind this transition was unforgettable: "Between the age of 12 to about 15 and a half, more or less, I sang with a salsa band called Tempo Moderno. In 1973 we shared the stage with the orchestra of Eddie Palmieri. I summoned the courage to speak with the maestro and asked him to listen to me sing "Sabroso guaguancó", a song that he had recorded in the 60's. He listened and left. Six months passed and Palmieri returned to Puerto Rico to look for me. We made an agreement. I had a new audition and thus was born Lalo Rodriguez, although at that time I was known as Lolo. My name is Ubaldo. It was Palmieri, when he brought me into his orchestra, baptized me as Lalo".

His first LP (long play) recording was in 1973 at age 16, with the Eddie Palmieri orchestra. That album was entitled The Sun of The Latin Music and won him his first Grammy. A year later, he recorded the song Un Puesto Vacante which appeared on his second album with Palmieri, Unfinished Masterpiece and is a good example of his style of salsa.

In 1980 Rodriguez decided to launch himself into the pop music world as a soloist. Simplemente Lalo, was his first LP album. Later, in 1982, he produced his album, Nuevamente Lalo and his string of hits continued with "Niño, el hombre que es soñador es loco", in 1985, with a philosiphical theme that later inspired the production of his album, Punto y coma.

It was not until 1988 that Rodriguez realized his next album release, Un nuevo despertar, which marked his return to the artistic scene after four years without without a recording. His single, "Ven, devórame otra vez", became a major hit, reaching the top of the charts in Panamá, Perú, Colombia, Venezuela and Spain. In that last country, his recording reached platinum and gold for sales of more 200,000 copies.

In Puerto Rico, Rodriguez realized the highest selling album in 1988 with "Un Nuevo Despertar", reaching gold. In 1989 he received three important awards by the prestigeous Billboard magazine: Vocalist of the Year in the Tropical Music category; Song of the Year for "Ven, devórame otra vez", and Best Record Production of the Year for his album, "Un nuevo despertar".

At the very beginning of the 1990's, Rodriguez performed several sold-out concerts in various venues throughout Spain; in La Coruña, Vigo, Bilbao and Madrid. It is notable that during those concerts he had the famous jazz musician, Quincy Jones, among his fans in the audience.

His discography in the 1990's included such titles as Sexacional and Nací para cantar, with record labels such as TH Rodven y EMI Latin. In Spain he was the first "salsero" to reach gold and platinum for over 100,00o in unit sales in the Iberian peninsula.