Salsa idol Johnny Pacheco, who was co-founder of Fania Records, Eddie Palmieri’s bandmate and supporter of music stars such as Rubén Bladés, Willie Colón and Celia Cruz, passed away on Monday. He was 85.
He had been hospitalized in New York a few days earlier for pneumonia, his wife, Maria Elena “Cuqui” Pacheco, said on the artist’s Facebook account.
Fania Records tweeted that the musician “was the man who was most responsible for the genre of salsa music. He was a visionary and his music will live on forever. ”
In a post on his social media, Blades said that “Pacheco leaves us with an important musical legacy, represented by all the collaborative work he has done during his distinguished career.”
Singer Marc Anthony mourns the loss of Pacheco and calls him ‘maestro or maestros’ and a good friend.
“Your sense of humor was contagious and I am forever grateful for your support, for the opportunity to be in your presence and for your wonderful legacy,” Anthony wrote.
Pacheco was born on March 25, 1935 in the Dominican Republic as a family of musicians. In the 1940s, the family moved to New York, where he learned to play the accordion, violin, saxophone, and clarinet, and studied percussion with Juilliard.
In 1954 he founded The Chuchulecos Boys with Palmieri on piano, Barry Rogers on trombones and other musicians who would gain notoriety in the salsa scene, such as Al Santiago, Mike Collazo and Ray Santos.
But the life-changing moment came in 1963 when Pacheco partnered with attorney Jerry Masucci to establish Fania Records.
Pacheco was the music director, composer, arranger and producer who oversaw the genre of music known as salsa – a blend of Cuban mambo, guaracha and chachachá, Puerto Rican rhythms and Dominican meringue. He received the Latin Recording Academy Music Excellence Award in 2005 and is nominated for several Grammys and Latin Grammys.
“His music and legacy will last forever and continue to inspire music creators around the world,” Gabriel Abaroa Jr., president and CEO of the Latin Recording Academy, said in a statement.
Pacheco is survived by his wife and their four children.