Pérez Prado
Dámaso Pérez Prado, born on December 11, 1916, in Matanzas, Cuba, was a renowned bandleader, pianist, composer, and arranger who became famous for popularizing the mambo in the 1950s. Known as "The King of the Mambo," Prado's adaptations of the danzón-mambo style achieved worldwide success with hits like "Mambo No. 5." His 1955 mambo cover of "Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)" topped the charts in the US and UK. Prado began his musical career as a pianist and arranger for Sonora Matancera, a prominent Cuban dance music ensemble, before forming his own band in Mexico, where he further developed the mambo genre. His innovative work included collaborations with artists like María Luisa Landín and Benny Moré, and he created new forms of mambo, such as mambo batiri and mambo kaen. Despite declining popularity in the 1960s with the rise of other Latin dance rhythms, Prado continued to innovate and became a naturalized Mexican citizen in 1980. He passed away on September 14, 1989, in Mexico City, but his legacy continues through his son, Pérez Prado Jr., who directs the Pérez Prado Orchestra in Mexico City.
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