Errol, Woodsie and me
In between dancing jobs I had a son to support. I had left Tito and needed to have a life of my own. I had picked a wonderful godfather for my son; he was also the father of one of the real Godfathers. He was always around helping me out. This man was a friend of […]
La Lupe: The Queen of Latin Soul
When I think back about the tragic entertainers of my time, I remember La Lupe. I met her with Mongo Santamaria playing at a small West Side club one night. She hugged me and said she knew all about me from the musicians she had played with. I found her to be wonderfully uninhibited, with […]
Federico Pagani Enterprises
During the early days Federico Pagani worked as an agent. He put shows together and, at one time or another, all the bands worked for him. He was a Puerto Rican in his early 50s and a fast talker with some strange ideas, especially when he met a young Spanish singer named Chiquita who desperately […]
Dancing at New York’s Famed Palladium
There were only a few people that Tito allowed me to dance with while he was playing. They either had to be gay or acquaintances he trusted. However, once we were out of Tito’s earshot, his “trusted” friends whispered things like “I would love to eat you up” and other pick-up lines that were in […]
Tito Puente | The Early Days
I had been seeing Tito after school practically every day. I told my mother I had a babysitting job after school, and as long as i was home before 6PM, it was OK. I was attending All Saints Commercial High School studying typing, steno, and bookkeeping, getting ready for a secretarial job. I graduated at […]
