What key details about rafael cortijo can be extracted from the following bio? Bio: rafael cortijo -lrb- january 11 , 1928 -- october 3 , 1982 -rrb- , was a puerto rican musician , orchestra leader , and composer . as a child , cortijo became interested in caribbean music and enjoyed the works of some of the era 's most successful bomba y plena music musicians . throughout his life , he had a chance to meet and work with some of them , and learned how to make his own congas and pleneras , the handheld drums used in bomba y plena music . salsa composer and singer ismael rivera met cortijo when both were youngsters , as they both grew up in the villa palmeras neighborhood of santurce ; they became lifelong friends . rivera was impressed with cortijo 's conga-playing skills and was asked to join his orchestra , which played at fiestas patronales all over puerto rico . rafael cortijo became well known across latin america . he attributed his success to the sound of his percussion , according to cortijo , afro-caribbean music was known worldwide . cortijo was also a member of the conjunto monterrey , based in monterrey , mexico . later on , cortijo worked on radio with renowned music artists such as myrta silva and miguelito valdes . cortijo also toured with daniel santos ' orchestra . by 1954 , cortijo was a member of '' el combo '' . el combo 's leader , mario roman , retired soon after . as a member of el combo , cortijo met lifelong friends sammy ayala and rafael ithier , who considered cortijo one of his idols . ismael rivera , then the lead singer of lito pena 's orquesta panamericana , joined cortijo 's orchestra known as cortijo y su combo in 1955 . from there on and until 1960 , cortijo and his orchestra played live on puerto rican television shows -lrb- sometime in the 60s , they became the house band at '' '' la taberna india '' '' -rrb- . the orchestra virtually disbanded in 1962 when ismael rivera was arrested for drug possession in panama . according to later reports , various band members concealed illegal drug shipments regularly since they were rarely intervened with at customs ;...
- death date is october 3 , 1982- children is rafael cortijo '' timbe '' , zoila r. cortijo- birth date is december 11 , 1928- name is rafael antonio cortijo- nationality is puerto rican- death place is santurce , puerto rico- birth place is santurce , puerto rico- occupation is musician , orchestra leader , and composer