American Mainstream Pop Hits Gone Salsa - Artículo Breve

Latin Beat Magazine, March, 2001 by Nelson Rodriguez

Classic songs become classics because they stand the test of time and are memorable. They remind us about a particular time in our life, school years, the old neighborhood, family and friends, a first love, the fun days and the bad ones. For many Latinos growing up in the U.S. throughout the last couple of decades, popular mainstream songs and R&B hits were a big part of their musical palate. In some cases, these songs were their favorites before they discovered Latin music.

Latin music, or música jibara, or música típica was what Hispanic parents listened to at home, sometimes forcing their children to listen to it at house parties, family gatherings and other festive celebrations. Many years later, those songs they first heard as kids found their way into their hearts and souls. For me, it was a music conglomeration of Cortijo y su Combo, El Gran Combo, Sonora Dinamita, the boogaloo era in New York City, the British Invasion of the late sixties, the Motown Sound, WABC with Cousin Brucie, and jazz.

In my opinion, one of the most popular salsa trends that endures and appeals to those who may not understand the Spanish lyrics of salsa, but want to dance and enjoy the magic of tropical rhythms, is Salsa in English. Can you imagine hearing one of your favorite songs from a particular era of your life, now remade a sa salsa track which you can dance to! It's an incredible flashback, and totally fulfilling.

Latin music with English lyrics is not something new. The concept was extremely popular in the sixties, when Mongo Santamaría, Willie Bobo, Joe Cuba and the boogaloo groups were popular. Everyone was re-doing hit songs in one-way or another. Some bands added Latin arrangements, others translated lyrics from Spanish to English or visa-versa, and some simply recorded instrumental versions of bit songs.

As far as taking mainstream pop hit songs and re-arranging and recording them as salsa dance tunes, it really didn't begin happening until the mid '70s. With a few exceptions, many of the Fania-era New York bands were among the first to explore the concept. One of the best was Bobby Rodríguez y La Compañía, who recorded salsa versions of Sunday Kind of Love, Pennies From Heaven, New York State of Mind, A Latin from Manhattan, and the Rubén Blades penned What Happened. These were all fun songs that spinned on my turntables every single dance I deejayed. The lead vocalist on these hits was Eddie Hernández, who later went by the name of Eddie Iglesias. He went on to join the Bad Street Boys (two decades before the Backstreet Boys) and sang the hits Cheek-To-Cheek, The Lady Is a Tramp and Sunny Gets Blue. The group also experimented with a danceclub-tinged concept on hit tunes such as Hollywood, One Hundred Ways, Copacabana, and a reggae Latin version of the rock hit American Woman.

The true credit for the creation of salsa sensual with Spanish lyrics goes to Louie Ramírez & Ray De La Paz for their K-Tel release of Noche Caliente. The first salsa sensual song with English lyrics might have been recorded in late 1983. The song was Lionel Ritchie's hit Lady, recorded by Orquesta Versailles in Los Angeles, California, sung by Fito Foster, known today as Palabra (one of the leaders of the L.A.-based band La Palabra). This version of Lady became an instant hit on National Public Radio stations nationwide, broker stations, and the dance club scene. The record was never serviced to commercial radio stations by its label. Regardless, the version became a huge underground club hit. To this day, there hasn't truly been one salsa song with English lyrics recorded that has enjoyed real commercial success.

David Cedeño and his band are another east coast favorite of this concept with a slew of hits such as Live Without You, Sealed With A Kiss, Lady In Red, Put Your Head On My Shoulder, Will You Love Me Tomorrow and All in the Game.

The biggest salsa cover hit with English lyrics has to be Tito Nieves' I'll Always Love You, which was aired by Frankie Crocker at WBLS, one of New York's top stations in the late eighties. Nieves also gained crossover airplay years later with his version of the boogaloo classic I Like It Like That. Johnny Colón's Boogaloo Blues in the '60s was the first to be picked up by R&B stations on the east coast, but it was Nieves' hit that really opened the door to acceptability. Most New York bands were comprised of bilingual Latinos who loved to perform both Spanish and English lyric compositions.

While there have been hundreds of these recordings throughout the years, the following list is the cream of the crop, starting with Henry Fiol's So Much In Love, Ray De La Paz's Betcha By Golly and Suddenly, Néstor Sánchez's Just Once, Charlie Valentín's Too Hot, Johnny Rivera's My Eyes Adored You, Richie Cabo's Venus, Billy Carrion's Our Day Will Come, Willy Chirino's Just The Two Of Us, Ray Sepúlveda's Superstar and Dreaming of You, Oscar Miguel y La Fantasia's Good Lovin', Manny Pacheco's Unforgettable and Through The Fire, Rojitas' Baby I Love Your Way, Cheo Feliciano's Yesterday, Libre's I Want You, Domingo Quiñones' Day Tripper and Crazy For You, Corrine's Always Be My Baby, Frankie Negron's Overjoyed, Conjunto Clásico's You Don't Have To Say You Love Me, Opa Opa's You've Made Me So Very Happy, Carlos Oliva y Los Sobrinos Del Juez's You've Lost That Loving Feeling and Vehicle, Ray Ramos' Stormy Weather, Latin Fusion's Hello, La Palabra's Careless Whisper, Los Jovenes Del Barrio's Stop, Slow Down and Telephone, New York Band's Always, Charanga 76's Manhattan, Avance's What You Won't Do For Love, India's I Just Want To Hang Around You, Tony Vega's Hey Jude, Nite & Day's How Deep is Your Love, Conjunto Imagen's Unbreak My Heart and Always & Forever, Jerry Medina's Feeling Alright, José Alberto's Dance With Me, and Caña Brava's If I Fell. And the list goes on and on of English-lyric salsa cover tunes available.