Daniel Santos (singer) - Later Years

Later Years

During the last years of his life, Santos toured the United States and Latin-America, while experiencing health problems. He continued performing with several music groups. While he performed with the Sonora Matancera, Santos suffered a heart attack while he was sleeping in a hotel located in La Reforma after eating dinner. Santos continued performing during the following decades, making presentations in several Latin American countries. He continued to sing the songs which he had written during his career until he finally retired and established a residence in Florida.

In 1991, Santos visited some friends in New York City's Barrio Latino, during this visit Santo's was walking through the street on a Saturday evening when he fainted and collapsed. He was attended by some bystanders and residents of the neighborhood who called the New York City Police Department. When the police arrived at the scene they transported him to a local hospital, Santos was released two days after. During this time Santos was also suffering from mental illnesses, including memory loss due to Alzheimer's disease. Despite his health he made final presentations in some of Puerto Rico's municipalities where he received recognitions in San Juan and Ponce. Santos was also invited to participate in a music festival in Cuba, where he was supposed to receive a homage, but he was unable to attend.

Over the course of his life Daniel Santos was legally married on twelve separate occasions. His first marriage took place in 1934, where he married Lucy Montilla when he was eighteen years old. In 1947, he married Cuban socialite Eugenia Perez Portal, who gave him his first son in 1948, Daniel Jr. After this he was involved in several relationships with women of several Latin American countries, on occasions having more than one consecutively. When he was fifty-six years old he married Luz Dary Pedredín in a ceremony organized on Colombia. The couple had two children, Danilú and David Albizu. Santos' last marriage was with Ana Rivera, who was originally of Puerto Rico.

Daniel Santos died on November 27, 1992, aged 76, at his ranch, "Anacobero's Ranch" in Ocala, Florida. He is buried at what is virtually Puerto Rico's national pantheon, the St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzis cemetery in Old San Juan, geographically quite close to where Albizu Campos and Pedro Flores were interred. Due to the scarcity of empty space in the cemetery, when fellow Puerto Rican singer and Santos boyhood friend Eladio Peguero (commonly known as "Yayo El Indio") later died, he was also buried in Santos' tomb.