page_title: Héctor Lavoe
section_title: Last years and death
hierarchical_section_title: Héctor Lavoe / Last years and death
caption_attribution_description: English: Tumba de Héctor Lavoe, Cementerio Civil de Ponce, Bo. Portugués Urbano, Ponce, Puerto Rico, mirando al oeste (DSC01432A)
context_page_description: Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez, better known as Héctor Lavoe, was a Puerto Rican salsa singer. Lavoe is considered to be possibly the best and most important singer and interpreter in the history of salsa music because he helped to establish the popularity of this musical genre in the decades of 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. His personality, style and the qualities of his voice led him to a successful artistic career in the whole field of Latin music and salsa during the 1970s and 1980s. The cleanness and brightness of his voice, coupled with impeccable diction and the ability to sing long and fast phrases with total naturalness, made him one of the favorite singers of the Latin public.
  Lavoe was born and raised in the Machuelo Abajo barrio of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Early in his life, he attended Escuela Libre de Música de Ponce, known today as the Instituto de Música Juan Morel Campos and, inspired by Jesús Sánchez Erazo, developed an interest in music. He moved to New York City on 3 May 1963, at the age of sixteen. Shortly after his arrival, he worked as the singer in a sextet formed by Roberto García.
context_section_description: Following his rehabilitation, Lavoe's life was plagued by tragic events, emotional turmoil, and pain. In 1987, his seventeen-year-old son Héctor Jr. was accidentally shot and killed by a friend. In the same period, his apartment in Rego Park, Queens, was destroyed in a fire. One year later, Héctor was scheduled to perform at the Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum in Bayamón, Puerto Rico on the night of Saturday 25 June 1988. Sales for the concert were poor, and promoter Rick Sostre decided to cancel the concert two hours before concert time. Héctor, defiant to the end, and knowing that it would be one of the last times he would perform in Puerto Rico, decided, against the promoter's wishes, to perform for the public who had paid to see the concert. The next day, 26 June 1988, Héctor attempted suicide by jumping off the ninth floor of the Regency Hotel Condado in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He survived the attempt, but from that day forward, would never completely recover.
  In 1990, Héctor gave his last large, public performance with the Fania All Stars at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. It was meant to be his comeback concert, but Héctor could not even sing a few notes of his famous song "Mi Gente".  It is believed his final public performance was a brief appearance at the club S.O.B.'s in New York City, in April 1992.
  On 29 June 1993, Héctor died at Saint Clare's Hospital (Manhattan) from a complication from AIDS. He was 46. He was initially buried in Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx. In June 2002, the remains of Lavoe and his son were exhumed at his family's request and reburied in his native Ponce, along with his widow Nilda who had died a few weeks before. His remains are at the Cementerio Civil de Ponce (Ponce Civil Cemetery), in that city's Portugués Urbano neighborhood.
caption: Lavoe's grave at Cementerio Civil de Ponce, Bo. Portugués Urbano, Ponce.
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