Tito Puente is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz compositions from his 50-year career.
17 Facts About Tito Puente
2.
Tito Puente was born on April 20,1923, at Harlem Hospital Center in the New York borough of Manhattan, the son of Ernest and Felicia Tito Puente, Puerto Ricans living in New York City's Spanish Harlem.
3.
Tito Puente's family moved frequently, but he spent the majority of his childhood in Spanish Harlem.
4.
Tito Puente's family called him Ernestito, Spanish for Little Ernest, and this became shortened to "Tito".
5.
Tito Puente switched to percussion by the age of 10, drawing influence from jazz drummer Gene Krupa.
6.
Tito Puente later created a song-and-dance duo with his sister Anna in the 1930s and intended to become a dancer, but an ankle tendon injury prevented him from pursuing dance as a career.
7.
Tito Puente served in the Navy for three years during World War II after being drafted in 1942.
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Gene Krupa 8.
Tito Puente was discharged with a Presidential Unit Citation for serving in nine battles on the escort carrier USS Santee.
9.
Tito Puente played popular Afro-Cuban rhythms so successfully that many people mistakenly identified him as Cuban.
10.
In early 2000, Tito Puente appeared in the music documentary Calle 54.
11.
Tito Puente's name is often mentioned in a television production called La Epoca, a film about the Palladium era in New York, Afro-Cuban music and rhythms, mambo and salsa as dances and music and much more.
12.
Richard "Richie" Tito Puente was the percussionist in the 1970s funk band Foxy.
13.
Tito Puente's daughter Audrey Puente is a television meteorologist for WNYW and WWOR-TV in New York City.
14.
Tito Puente was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.
15.
When Burns is later shot, Tito Puente becomes one of the prime suspects but manages to clear himself by performing one of his songs for Chief Wiggum.
16.
Seven alternative endings were filmed of various characters shooting Burns; Tito Puente is one of the alternates.
17.
Tito Puente's dancing is characterized by sharp, clean movements and a strong connection to the rhythm of the music.