Rubén Blades: 1948—: Salsa singer, actor, activist

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Rubén Blades has three very distinct careers that rarely, if ever, meet. As a Grammy Award-winning musician and salsa singer, Blades has released Buscando America, Escenas, Mundo, and Siembra, one of Latin music's most popular albums. As a popular Hollywood actor, he has appeared in such films as The Milagro Beanfield War, The Devil's Own, The Cradle Will Rock, and All the Pretty Horses. As an activist and politician, Blades has long been a champion of human rights issues. When he ran for president in Panama in 1994, he placed a respectable third.

Blades was born on July 16, 1948, in Panama City, Panama. He was the second of five children of Ano-land, a piano player and nightclub singer, and Rubén Blades Sr. a musician, basketball player, and police detective. His paternal grandmother, Emma, was a cultured, free-spirited woman who played a huge part in the boy's childhood. He grew up during the rock 'n' roll heyday of the 1950s and 1960s, listening to Elvis Presley and the Beatles, but the family also listened to the American jazz of Dizzy Gillespie, Glenn Miller, and Duke Ellington, and to Latin American artists such as Beny Moré, Perez Prado, and the Orquesta Casino de la Playa. Blades idolized Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, who recorded the hit "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?," because Lymon was only 14 and led the group. He wrote a letter to Lymon, asking to join the group, but Blades's mother, who wanted her son to concentrate on his education, did not send the note, but bought him a guitar, instead. His visions of America were formed by the idealistic TV show Father Knows Best.

Political Unrest Sobered Dreams of Music

Blades got his first shot on stage as a last-minute replacement for the lead singer in his brother's rock-cover band, the Saints. Although he dreamed of playing in a band, the sobering 1964 Panama Canal riots led Blades to concentrate more on politics and his education. Though he continued to pursue his interest in writing socially conscious lyrics and singing Latin music, he pursued his law degree at the University of Panama.

When his university closed due to political unrest in Panama in 1969, Blades took a trip to New York City. There he witnessed Latin Americans living successfully in the States. Many of them, including Tito Puente, Machito, and Willie Colón, were making their way as musicians. He recorded his first album, De Panama a Nueva York: Pete Rodriguez Presenta a Rubén Blades, in 1970. The album did not sell well and, when the university was reopened, Blades resumed his education, graduating with his law degree in 1972. He worked as an attorney and performed with local bands in his spare time.

At a Glance . . .

Born Rubén Blades on July 16, 1948, in Panama City, Panama; son of Anoland (a piano player and singer) and Rubén Blades Sr. (a bongo player, basketball player, and police detective); divorced. Education: University of Panama, BA, political science and law, 1972; Harvard University, MA, international law, 1985.

Career: Songwriter and performer, 1970–; Banco Nacional, Panama City, Panama, member of legal staff, 1973-74; Fania Records, New York City, recording artist and legal advisor, 1973-83; Actor, 1981–; Elektra Records, New York City, recording artist, 1984–.

Memberships: American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP); National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; Screen Actors Guild; American Federation of Television and Radio Artists; Harvard Law School Association, vice-president, 1984-85; Colegio Nacional de Abogados (Panamanian law association).

Awards: Named honorary citizen, City of Chicago, 1984; Time magazine "Top Ten Albums of the Year" list, for Buscando América, 1984, and for Escenas, 1985; New York Award for Buscando América, 1985 and for Escenas, 1986; New York Music Awards for Best Ethnic/International Act and Best Latin Act, New York Post, 1986; Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Performance for Escenas, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 1986.

Addresses: Office— c/o David Maldonado Management, 1674 Broadway, Ste. 703, New York, NY 10019. Agent— c/o Paul Schwartman, International Creative Management, 8899 Beverly Hills Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048.

Blades's father, a secret policeman for the government, was accused by General Manuel Antonio Noriega of spying for the American CIA. He refuted the charges, but moved to Miami with his family in 1973. Blades moved to New York a year later, and first worked for the Panamanian Consulate while trying to break into the salsa scene. He did so literally by taking a job in the mailroom of New York's leading salsa record label, Fania Records. It was there he got his big break, and began singing with Ray Baretto's traditional salsa band. He made his debut at Madison Square Garden with the band in 1974.

Recorded Most Successful Salsa Record

Blades met and began collaborating with the Bronx salsa musician Willie Colón in 1976. With Colón as arranger to Blades's songs, they released Willie Colón Presents Rubén Blades in 1977. Their album Siembra was released in 1978 and was considered the most popular salsa album in history, having sold over three million copies. The album also produced a hit single, "Pedro Navaja," that "defied radio formats and yet has become the biggest-selling single in salsa history," according to Billboard. "The album became a hit," Blades recalled in a 2002 interview with the Wall Street Journal, "because the people who bought it weren't just the dancers. They identified with the stories as much as the rhythm." Blades forged a new brand of salsa known as "salsa conciente," or salsa with a socially conscious message. Blades was chosen to tour with salsa greats Celia Cruz, Johnny Pacheco, and Tito Puente as part of the Fania All-Stars group. A long-time fan of the silver screen, Blades got a chance to try acting in 1981 in The Last Fight. The film was a commercial failure, but the experience opened doors for Blades, and was a nice source of income.

After five years and four gold records, Blades ceased collaborating with Colón in 1982 to focus on his own work, launching his solo group, Seis del Solar, or "Six from the 'Hood." The group was an unusual blend of traditional salsa and jazz, rock, doo-wop, and various Latin beats. Seis del Solar became very popular in Latin communities, but crossed over the mainstream with Buscando América, the first salsa record released on a major record label, Elektra/Asylum. While most popular salsa albums are driven by dance and party tunes, Buscando América contained songs that were serious and often political. On the album, Blades sings about slain human-rights advocate Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero and the rampant kidnappings in South America, and criticizes the Panamanian dictatorship of General Manuel Antonio Noriega. The song "El Tiburón" criticizes the United States's actions in Central America, and caused an uproar in Miami's Little Havana community. The song was banned from radio stations—Blades wore a bulletproof jacket while performing it in Miami. Regardless, the album sold 300,000 copies in its first five months, earned a Grammy Award nomination, and was listed on Time magazine's list of the year's top-ten rock albums. After the album, Blades announced he was taking a year off to complete his master's degree in international law at Harvard University, which he did in 1985. He also co-wrote, acted, and sang in the independent film Crossover Dreams as a small-time salsa singer who wants to cross over into the mainstream.

Created Socially Conscious, Yet Danceable Music

While Buscando América was grounded in social commentary, Escenas, released in 1985, was more based in personal relationships. On it, he sings a heartbreaking duet with Linda Ronstadt, "Silencios." The album earned Blades his first Grammy Award. Seis del Solar's 1987 album, Agua de Luna, contains songs inspired by the works of Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel García Marquez. His 1988 album, Nothing But the Truth, was his first album in English, and features performances by such popular singers as Sting, Elvis Costello, Eric Clapton, and Lou Reed—a testament to how well-known Blades himself had become. The album was strong on social issues, with tunes like "The Letter," which addresses AIDS, "Salvador," which laments human-rights violations, and "Ollie's Doo-Wop," which is a sarcastic ditty about Oliver North's involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal. In 1989 Blades added a seventh member to his group and changed the name to "Son del Solar," or "Sound of the 'Hood," and released the Grammy Award-winning album Antecedente. He earned his third Grammy for La Rosa de los Vientos in 1997.

While he was maintaining a busy recording and touring schedule, Blades was also building his career as a film actor. He appeared in Robert Redford's The Milagro Beanfield War as Sheriff Bernie, who tries to maintain peace between the citizens of a small village in New Mexico and the development company that is trying to build there. Though Blades received strong reviews for his part, the essentially Latin film was criticized because it was directed by an Anglo. His role as a convicted murderer in the HBO movie Dead Man Out, with Danny Glover, was praised by critics and earned him cable TV's ACE Award. Actor and director Jack Nicholson so wanted Blades for his film The Two Jakes that he planned shooting the film around the musician's touring schedule. In 1991 Blades played Petey the bookie in Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues. Also in 1991 Blades played opposite Christine Lahti in Crazy from the Heart, a romantic comedy that addresses racial prejudice. He received an Emmy Award later that year for his role in The Josephine Baker Story.Healsohas appeared in The Devil's Own, The Cradle Will Rock, and All the Pretty Horses, among others. He always has tried to avoid being typecast in stereotypical Hispanic roles, such as that of the drug dealer or criminal.

Ran for Panamanian Presidency

Blades is active in many human rights campaigns regarding his native Panama, but he also backs international causes. He appeared with Bono of U2, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, and other socially conscious musicians in the anti-apartheid music video "Sun City" that debuted on MTV in 1988. In 1991 Blades traveled to Panama and founded the Movemiento Papa Egoró, which translates roughly as Mother Earth Party, or Motherland Party. The party vowed to fight hunger, unemployment, and drugs in Panama, and Blades ran for president of Panama on the party's ticket. He even wrote and recorded his own campaign song, "The Good Seed," which declares "change is coming." Though early polls favored him, Blades came in third in the election, a respectable showing for a non-politician. The Papa Egoró party, however, managed to win seven representational seats in the government.

There are some who have suggested Blades might have been more successful in his bid for president of Panama had he not moved to Hollywood and married a blonde, blue-eyed, North American actress, Lisa Lebenzon. As Blades has achieved more mainstream success and popularity, there have been many critics who have accused him of selling out. "Deep down, he [Blades] knows he's forgotten his friends, his people, his country, his music, and himself," Leon Ichaso, the director of Crossover Dreams, is quoted as saying in Rubén Blades. His supporters contend that while Blades has crossed over into the mainstream, he has taken his audiences with him, not left them behind.

Blades's later records became more world-inspired, exploring Celtic, Arabic, and Hindu influences in music. On Tiempos, released in 1999, Blades collaborated with the Costa Rican jazz group Editus to create a pan-Latin sound that he filled out with European classical music. He originally conceived of Mundos as a way to marry Irish and Latin sounds, but ended up making "a kind of map, where I began in the Northeast part of Africa, from Ethiopia, and I took that path to Asia Minor," he is quoted as saying in Billboard. "I crossed part of Turkey, what today are independent Russian republics. I crossed toward Europe and then I jumped to America. During that voyage, I integrated these sounds." Washington Post music critic Fernando Gonzalez wrote: "Blades crosses cultural borders to borrow whatever he feels he needs…. When it works, the sum effect is illuminating."

Selected works

Music

De Panama a Nueva York: Pete Rodriguez Presenta a Rubén Blades, 1970.
Willie Colón Presents Rubén Blades, 1977.

Siembra, 1978.

Bohemio y Poeta, Fania, 1979.

Maestra Vida: Primera Parte, Fania, 1980.

Maestra Vida: Segunda Parte, Fania, 1980.

Buscando América, Elektra, 1984.

Escenas, Elektra, 1985.

Crossover Dreams, Elektra, 1986.

Agua de Luna, Elektra, 1986.

Nothing But the Truth, Elektra, 1988.

Antecedente, Elektra, 1988.

Rubén Blades y Son del Solar … Live!, Elektra, 1990.

Caminando, Discos CBS, 1991.

Doble Filo, Fania, 1992.

El Que La Hace La Paga, Fania, 1992.

Rubén Blades with Strings, Fania, 1992.

Amor Y Control, Discos CBS, 1992.

Joseph & His Brothers, Rabbit Ears, 1993.

Rosa de Los Vientos, Sony, 1996.

Tiempos, Sony, 1999.

From Panama, Fania, 2000.

Sembra Y Otros Favoritos Salsa Para Siempre, Musica Latina, 2001.

Salsa Caliente de Nu York, Import, 2002.

Mundo, Sony, 2002.

Film

The Last Fight, 1983.

Routes of Rhythm, 1984.

Crossover Dreams, 1985.

Critical Condition, 1987.

Fatal Beauty, 1987.

The Return of Rubén Blades, 1987.

The Milagro Beanfield War, 1988.

Homeboy, 1988.

Dead Man Out, 1989.

Disorganized Crime, 1989.

Mo' Better Blues, 1990.

The Two Jakes, 1990.

Heart of the Deal, 1990.

Predator 2, 1990.

The Lemon Sisters, 1990.

The Super, 1991.

Crazy from the Heart, 1991.

One Man's War, 1991.

The Josephine Baker Story, 1991.

Life with Mikey, 1993.

Miracle on Interstate 880, 1993.

Color of Night, 1994.

A Million to Juan, 1994.

Somos un solo pueblo, 1995.

Yo soy, del Son a la Salsa, 1997.

Chinese Box, 1997.

Scorpion Spring, 1997.

The Devil's Own, 1997.

Cradle Will Rock, 1999.

All the Pretty Horses, 2000.

Gideon's Crossing, 2000.

Assassination Tango, 2002.

Once Upon a Time in Mexico, 2003.

Imagining Argentina, 2003.

The Maldonado Miracle, 2003.

Sources

Books

Cruz, Bárbara C., Rubén Blades: Salsa Singer and Human Activist, Enslow Publishers, 1997.

Martin, Betty A., Rubén Blades, Chelsea House Publishers, 1992.

Periodicals

Billboard, September 7, 2002, p. 12.

New York Times, August 26, 1999, p. 3.

Wall Street Journal, November 13, 2002, p. D10.

Washington Post, November 17, 2002, p. G4.

On-line

"I'll Take New York!," Pulse!, http://pulse.towerrecords.com (January 15, 2003).

Internet Movie Database, www.imdb.com (February 5, 2003).

"Rubén Blades," All Music Guide, www.allmusic.com (February 5, 2003).

"Rubén Blades," Music of Puerto Rico, www.musicofpuertorico.com/Ruben_blades.html (January 15, 2003). "Rubén Blades Biography," Sony Discos Database, www.sonydiscos.com/discos/content.nsf/bio/ (January 15, 2003).

—Brenna Sanchez