Ernesto Antonio Puente (1923 - 2000)

Born 20 Apr 1923 in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

Died 1 Jun 2000 at age 77 in New York City, New York, USA

Biography

Ernesto Puente is Notable.

Ernesto Puente has Puerto Rican ancestry.

Ernesto has Latin American roots.

Latin Jazz bandleader credited with bringing mambo and cha-cha-cha music into mainstream American culture. Although he is usually associated with Afro-Cuban music, his roots are Puerto Rican. He grew up in Spanish Harlem, New York.

He served in the Navy for three years during World War II. He was discharged with a Presidential Unit Citation for serving in nine battles on the escort carrier USS Santee (CVE-29). The GI Bill allowed him to study music at Juilliard School of Music, where he completed formal education in conducting, orchestration, and theory.

In 1997, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. ^[1] In 1990, he received a Star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. He died in 2000 and was buried at Saint Anthonys Church Cemetery, Nanuet, Rockland County, New York, USA ^[2]

He was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. In 2011, the US Postal Service issued a forever stamp in his honor as part of their Latin Legends series. ^[3] On October 11, 2022, Puente was honored with a Google Doodle. ^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ National Medal of Arts, National Endowment for the Arts. nea.gov
2. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #10157
3. ↑ Latin Legends, Smithsonian National Postal Museum.
4. ↑ Google Doodle, Celebrating Tito Puente!, October 11, 2022.

• Wikipedia: Tito Punte
• Siegal, Nina, "The New York Legacy of Tito Puente". The New York Times. June 6, 2000.