Héctor Lavoe: El Cantante de los Cantantes Essay Example

the saxophone.

However, when he was seventeen he dropped out of school against his parent’s wishes so he could follow a singing career in New York City. His father was specifically against Lavoe moving to New York because in earlier years they had lost their eldest son to a drug overdose in the city of New York (Torres, 2005). When he moved to the United States he lived with his sister, Priscilla, in the Bronx and within the first week of living there he found a job as a singer for a group led by Roberto Garcia. During that time he was also taken under the care of a noted talent manager who helped him change his name.

As written in a biography, “A local promoter took Hector Perez under his wing. He wanted Hector to become a star. Hector admired Felipe Rodriguez a famous singer of romantic ballads. Rodriguez was nicknamed La Voz (the voice). In that vein, the promoter christened Hector with the stage name Lavoe, a derivative of La Voz. ” (Torres, 2005) He went on to play with other bands like the Orquesta of New York or even the infamous Johnny Pacheco band. He would go on to get his big break in 1967 at the age of twenty-one when he united with Willie Colon’s crew as a vocalist.

Colon and Lavoe started a movement in the Latin music world unlike anything seen before. The two were “show stoppers” and together they wrote some of the greatest Latin hits of all time. Their union spanned a memorable fourteen albums, most of which have become some of the most legendary songs ever written. During the

first year of Colon and Lavoe’s union they recorded a mega hit album called El Malo (Perez, 1999). The album would forever change the two song artist’s lives shooting them into super stardom and making them heartthrobs of the Latin music community.

With the success of the album Lavoe was immediately established in New York City and set up with a very comfortable lifestyle making it easy for him to lead a much fulfilled romantic life. He was well known for being a “ladies man” and in the year of his first album’s success he managed to get his girlfriend, Carmen Castro, pregnant. He also had a baby with Nilda “Puchi” Roman, another woman with whom he had sexual relations with. Carmen’s baby boy was born on October 30, 1968 as Jose Alberto Perez. Puchi’s son was born on September 25, 1969 as Hector Jr.

Perez. Ultimately, since Carmen refused to marry Lavoe, Puchi took her place as his wife and it led to a rift between Hector’s relationship with his first son, Jose Alberto, and ex-girlfriend, Carmen (Torres, 2005). With his newfound success, the artist’s life began to take a turn for the worse. According to Hector, in one of the many private parties he went to after shows he came across a table full of drugs and drug users. Some say the drug addiction was sparked when he married Puchi since she was well known for moving in an environment of drugs and conflict.

He began to smoke marijuana and snort cocaine, but his true love became heroin. He fell so in love with the drug that it began to take over his life until his

continuous use of the drug managed to infiltrate and ruin his personal and professional life. Heroin became more important to Hector and he began to miss practices and show up late to events (Rodriguez, 2007). The lack of punctuality to his events gave rise for a nickname, a sarcastic name that titled him “The King of Punctuality,” which later was the name of a song written for him by Pacheco (Perez, 1999).

By 1974 his drug use was completely out of control and because of this, the Colon and Lavoe band began to gain a bad reputation and bad publicity (Torres, 2005). Willie tried desperately to help Lavoe, but he refused to get clean. Because of the strength of the addiction, Willie ultimately had to break apart from the group. In 1978 the loss of his band and personal setbacks combined with his drug addiction threw Hector into a horrible depression that led him to attempt suicide several times. In hopes of getting clean he dedicated his life to the religion of Santeria and went to the high priest for prayer.

He was taken into the care of the religious cabinet who aided in his rehabilitation. When he reemerged to the world he appeared to be drug-free (Rodriguez, 2007). However, the new Hector could not keep up his newfound life because after his spiritual experience his life took yet another wrongful turn. The same year the new Hector reemerged was the year that he lost his mother-in-law and father to sickness and his seventeen year-old son was accidentally shot by a friend. Heroin took over his life again and the addiction was at its greatest after his

son’s death.

Heroin and cocaine created mental and sleep disorders in Lavoe. He would talk nonsense to people when intoxicated, Puchi would even recall times when he would go on stage for concerts and was somewhat lost in a trance. His depression was partial from the tragedies he lived through, but a serious repercussion from the drug use. Close friends would remember times when he would disappear for months to enter rehabilitation facilities for his habitual drug use. Shortly after a month or so of being clean he would fall back into the same trap, the routine of heroin and cocaine use.

Heroin took the best of him and in 1988 he was diagnosed with AIDS, a disease caused by his intravenous heroin use (Rodriguez, 2007). He was losing his health to a drug that had not only caused him many physical disorders, but also mental disorders. On June 28, 1988 Lavoe was supposed to appear in concert, but the turn out was little and the promoters decided to shut down the concert. Hector tried to convince them to let him sing as he walked out on stage to sing for the few people, but the promoters cut the power to his stage.

Lavoe was embarrassed and intoxicated; it was that night that he tried to commit suicide from the ninth floor of his hotel balcony. Heroin had caused him to severely hallucinate and some even argue that it was not true that he was pushed or accidentally tripped over. However, it is not the first time doctors have seen heroin users try to “fly” or do all kinds of crazy stunts. He was severely intoxicated that night

when he dropped down nine stories and landed on an air conditioning unit. Although he survived, Hector would never be the same again. Even after all he had been through, fans still wanted to hear and see Lavoe (Torres, 2005).

In the summer of 1989, Lavoe sang in another concert, but this time he was in a wheel chair. His presence still brought about a standing ovation from the crowd as he sang for the people. In 1990, he tried to do another concert, but this one would really be a defining moment for the music world. Hector was supposed to be the last act on stage that night, but as he was wheeled out onto the stage he was very weak and unable to sing for the crowd. He tried to do his best, but the song was off tune and his appearance was jolting to anyone who saw him.

The drugs and the AIDS disease had conquered his body. He was tiny, frail, pale, and mentally lost to the world, to his friends. The last time Hector would ever appear in front of a crowd as a singer was in 1992, in a club called Las Vegas. Hector made it through his act this time and won over the crowd, but this was his last performance (Torres, 2005). The following year in 1993, Hector checked in for AIDS treatment. It was too little, too late. On June 29, 1993 Hector passed away (Torres, 2005). Hector was a great man and his music truly inspired a generation of young followers.

His music was unique to salsa, as he combined traditional Puerto Rican music and Jazz. However, the

fight for his life to get off the drugs would never come. He lived the life of a drug junkie and his many attempts to get off the drugs failed. Understanding the consequences of using cocaine and heroin are evident to anyone who knew or witnessed Hector’s battle with the drug addiction. Heroin is an addictive drug and users can get addicted after just one use. The drug is a product of morphine, a powerful pain-killer used for people who are in severe pain (2006).

Heroin causes a rush in the body triggering extreme emotions of adrenaline and euphoria, but it is followed by a down time. Similar to cocaine in many ways, heroin leads the user into depression and causes destruction in the central nervous system. The drug can lead to overdose, abrupt miscarriages, organ diseases, organ failure, and unfortunately, like Hector experienced, injecting heroin can lead someone to catch HIV/AIDs and/or hepatitis. Heroin can cause the user to develop tolerance very quickly. Users become tolerant to the drug and it becomes difficult for them to get the same high off the same dose each time.

Hector experienced these symptoms and as years progressed, the battle to overcome the addiction became harder and harder. The physical dependence on the drug triggers the body to react with withdrawal symptoms when the drug is not present in the body. Withdrawal symptoms can take place anywhere within 48 to 72 hours of the drug not being present. Hector under took more that he bargained for when he used heroin. Heroin is not only associated with long time disorders like sleep disorders or depression, but other mental disorders as well.

These disorders are evident in Hector’s psychological changes as he became addicted to the drug.

Researchers have found that heroin users are more likely to develop borderline personality disorders, antisocial personality disorders, and risk-taking (Williamson, 2004). Hector’s later life shows how he would act child like around his friends and in the presence of the public. He was extremely disturbed by his intoxication. At times he was extremely happy, or crazily determined, or even violent as his disputes with Puchi would get out of line. There were times where he would drive like a crazed man in the streets of New York and sleep around with different women, not caring if his wife would find out.

Heroin changed his way of thinking, he was definitely prone to taking extreme risks and was obviously experiencing a borderline personality. His lack of responsibility when showing up late to sold out concerts demonstrated his level of intoxication. Cocaine was also a big part of his life, however, many autobiographers do little to focus on his other bad habits. Cocaine took as great a toll on Lavoe’s life as heroin. Cocaine, like most drugs used in the world today, is a naturally occurring alkaloid which is found in the leaves of a plant called Erythroxylon coca. Cocaine is induced by snorting, injecting, or even smoking the drug.

It is normally not ingested because it is not absorbed properly so the high is not the same. Cocaine is a powerful central nervous system stimulant and because of this, it is highly metabolized. People on cocaine can get a high from only a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the amount of

the dosage taken. Cocaine increases the levels of energy in the user by pumping more blood throughout the body, increasing blood pressure, and heart rate. The combination of heroin and cocaine, as Hector would at times intake, can be a fatal combination because it raises the heart rate and crashes the central nervous system abruptly.

Due to these changes in the metabolism, some side effects of the drug can include cardiac arrest, strokes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and clogged arteries. The drug leads to symptoms of twitching, itching, paranoia, depression, and can be life threatening to people with cardiovascular problems (Ballas, 2006). The drug toxicity results is fatalities due to respiratory and circularity failure. Over time, this can lead to respiratory failure, heart failure, tachycardia, and even cerebral hemorrhage, which are all similar to the effects of heroin (Breus, 2005).

Cocaine’s main effect on the function of the brain is to raise serotonin and dopamine levels, the chemicals that makes one feel happy or satisfied. However, one may wonder how depression can then be associated with the drug. The reason being is that as the high depletes, the chemicals become inactive and it leaves the person feeling depressed and at times, suicidal. A chronic user of the drug, like Hector, is prone to experience changes in appetite, be susceptible to body pains, insomnia, oversleeping, tiredness, and experience changes in their breathing.

Other effects include a bothersome runny nose and nasal congestion, which can sum up the changes in Lavoe’s tone of singing in his later years (Breus, 2005). However, the need for the “high” keeps the users addicted to the few moments of glory time and unfortunately,

the effects of the drug increase the tolerance of the addict, leading them to have to increase the amounts of cocaine induced. Hector took on two of the worst and strongest drugs used by addicts today in the world. It is apparent why his personality changed so much over the years. His happiness went from deep heart felt sincerity, to a drug induced emotion.

However, his music was timeless and at times, overshadowed the drug addict he had become. People overlooked his addiction and faults because they had a desire to hear his lyrics and unique rhythm. Hector Lavoe was the famous person whom I chose to do my in depth analysis of because of the icon he was and the beauty he brought to Latin music all over the world. Hector changed how people, especially Americans, viewed Hispanics in a day and age where racism was so alive. He was able to bring my culture into a new world and make people like me shine as individuals for our “flavor. ”

Although Lavoe was Puerto Rican, different from my own Cuban heritage, we both share the Latin community salsa music, which is almost necessary to our daily lifestyles and our rich cultures. What Lavoe did for salsa lovers and Hispanics around the world was open up a door that would forever make him infamous, legendary and highly respected by music lovers regardless of race or origin because the style he created was truly remarkable and full of passion. Passion is recognized and appreciated by anyone and everyone; that is why he was so loved and well respected in the music industry.

Works Cited

1. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000800.htm#Treatment
2. http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=47487
3. http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/heroin.html