DALLAS (AP) -- Johnnie Taylor, whose 1976 ``Disco Lady'' was a hit on the dance floor and in the pop charts, has died of an apparent heart attack. He was 62.
Authorities said Taylor was stricken at his home in suburban Duncanville and died Wednesday at Charleton Methodist Medical Center.
The Crawfordsville, Ark., native was nicknamed the ``Philosopher of Soul'' by Memphis' Stax Records.
``I do love music because it's always loved me,'' Taylor told The Dallas Morning News in 1999. ``It gives me a certain kind of feeling.
``The material I choose isn't black music or white music,'' he said. ``It's just music -- real, honest music.''
Taylor was a protege of Sam Cooke and took over the Soul Stirrers after Cooke left gospel for rhythm and blues in the 1950s.
In the mid-1960s, he decided to settle in Dallas after playing a show in the city. He lived there more than 30 years.
In 1968, Taylor scored his first number one on the R&B charts with ``Who's Making Love,'' his first million-seller, followed by a steady run of other hits. When Stax went bankrupt in 1975, Taylor signed to Columbia Records and had his biggest commercial success with ``Disco Lady.''
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June 1, 2000
Bandleader Tito Puente Dies
Filed at 3:08 p.m. EDT
By The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -- Tito Puente, the exuberant percussionist and bandleader who rose to stardom during the mambo craze of the 1950s and paved the way for Latin musicians from Carlos Santana to Marc Anthony, has died. He was 77.
Puente, who had undergone treatment recently for a heart ailment, died at a hospital Wednesday.
Decades before the current ``Latin explosion'' of Anthony, Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez, Puente -- a contemporary of the Desi Arnaz -- was driving audiences to the dance floor with his wide-eyed, energetic style and influential sound. He created his own jazz by blending Latin rhythm with the Big Band stylings of Tommy Dorsey and Count Basie.
In a six-decade career that began at age 13, the New York City native recorded more than 100 albums and won five Grammys. His most recent Grammy, best tropical Latin performance for ``Mambo Birdland,'' came in February.
``The excitement of the rhythms and the beat make people happy,'' he said in an Associated Press interview in 1997. ``We try to get our feelings to the people, so they enjoy it.''
Puente crossed over before anyone coined the expression, collaborating with jazz artists such as Dizzy Gillespie and Lionel Hampton. He wrote the song ``Oye Como Va'' years before it became an enormous rock hit for Santana.
He performed with various symphonies, and brought his band to the White House for Presidents Carter, Reagan and Bush.
Puente transcended music and entered pop culture. Bill Murray's character in ``Stripes'' hailed Puente's genius, as did TV's Lisa Simpson. Puente performed the theme song for ``The Cosby Show,'' and played himself in the 1992 movie ``Mambo Kings.''
In 1997, he received a National Medal of Arts from President Clinton.
``Tito was for me more than family,'' said Cuban-born singer Celia Cruz, a longtime friend and collaborator. ``Our world is in mourning because one of the souls of Latin music has died.''
Gloria Estefan, in a statement with husband Emilio, praised Puente as ``a pioneer in the music industry ... an inspiration for artists and music lovers alike.
``Tito said to us recently that his music was not only the story of who he was, but also the pride and the passion of a people rejoicing in who they are,'' the Estefans said. ``There are no better words with which to say goodbye.''
Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. was born April 20, 1923, in Harlem, the oldest child of Puerto Rican parents -- a factory foreman and his wife. His mother called her son Ernestito -- Little Ernest -- then shortened the name to Tito.
Initially, Puente was a Fred Astaire-style dancer; a serious ankle injury in a bicycle accident focused his attention on music.
Puente quickly took to percussion, beating rhythms on boxes or the windowsill and playing his first semi-pro gig at 13 in a local club.
The high school dropout was soon playing the timbales -- a pair of single-headed drums mounted on stands and played with sticks -- with the Machito Orchestra, a group that had merged the Big Band sound with a Latin beat.
Puente persuaded the bandleader to move the timbales from the back of the band to the front, and from his new spot, Puente became the center of attention -- animated and constantly moving.
After a three-year stint in the Navy during World War II, Puente took courses at the Juilliard School of Music. He then worked with other bands until finally debuting his own, with the Tito Puente Orchestra, in 1948.
When the '50s mambo craze swept the states, Puente's fame soared and he became a regular headliner at the New York Palladium. He moved to Hollywood in the '60s, working with the biggest stars of jazz and Latin music, such as Cruz, Ray Barretto, Mongo Santamaria, Cal Tjader, Woody Herman, George Shearing and Hampton.
Over the decades, the hard-working Puente became an international star, taking his band around the world. In 1992, his 100th album -- ``The Mambo King 100th LP'' -- was nominated for a Grammy.
Puente is survived by his wife, Margie, two sons and a daughter.
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http://elvispelvis.com/texbeneke.htm
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