La Palabra (musician) - Godfather of Romantic Salsa

Godfather of Romantic Salsa

Stevie Wonder's band members saw La Palabra performing in Norma Belle's band in Detroit, Michigan and immediately recommended him to Wonder. In September 1979 Wonder invited La Palabra to move to Los Angeles to join Phoenix Rising, the band Wonder was planning to assemble and produce. La Palabra viewed the chance to work for Stevie Wonder as a launching pad for his career and immediately headed to the West Coast, only to discover that the project was still only in the early planning stages. Without a job or record deal of his own, La Palabra began playing piano at local gigs with various Los Angeles groups.

Several months later, in 1980, American pop singer Lionel Richie achieved massive widespread success with his hit single "Lady," while Spanish balladeers Roberto Carlos and Emanuel reached the top of the Latin charts with their respective hits "Cama y Mesa" and "Todo Se Derrumbo." La Palabra, caught up in this romantic movement in music, began experimenting combining his native Cuban rhythms and American pop music. He created a new genre of Latin music that combined sexually charged romanticism with high energy salsa, which he named Ballada en Salsa (later renamed and marketed as romantic salsa or salsa romántica by major record labels).

In December 1979 La Palabra partnered with Jesús "El Niño" Alejandro Perez to form Orquesta Versalles. La Palabra and "El Niño" showcased their new arrangements weekly, packing such popular nightclubs as Club Candilejas in Los Angeles, Club Riviera in Eagle Rock, and the Marina Hotel in Las Vegas. In early 1981 La Palabra (working as Fito Foster) and El Niño released a single as Orquesta Versalles (a.k.a. Orquesta Candilejas), with El Niño's arrangement of "Me Voy Pa’ Puerto Rico" on side A and La Palabra's arrangement of "Todo Se Derrumbo" on Side B. "Todo Se Derrumbo" became such a hit that Orquesta Versalles club audiences requested Versalles to play it three to four times a night.

"Todo se Derrumbo" attracted the attention of Joni Figueras, a music industry insider, frequent visitor at Club Candilejas, and fan of Versalles and La Palabra's arrangements. Figueras approached La Palabra and suggested that the two of them produce an album of La Palabra's arrangements to introduce the public to Ballada en Salsa / Salsa Romantica. La Palabra was intrigued by the idea but unable to start such a large-scale project while still contracted to work for Stevie Wonder and Phoenix Rising. Figueras forged ahead with the Salsa Romantica album without him, using musicians Louis Ramirez and Ray de la Paz to record Noche Caliente for K-Tel Records. As a result of one hastily released album, Ramirez and de la Paz were inaccurately called "the pioneers of salsa romantica."

In 1982 Stevie Wonder's team decided to abandon the Phoenix Rising project altogether. Although it was a disappointment to La Palabra, the official announcement was unsurprising. He had already been working with other bands since arriving in Los Angeles, and the following year Orquesta Versalles was deemed one of Los Angeles’ pioneering salsa bands. They released their debut self-titled album on Profono Records (then a division of CBS Records), which contained La Palabra's classic interpretation of Lionel Richie's "Lady," which became an overnight international success in dance clubs.

La Palabra relocated his band to Miami, Florida in 1984, believing the city to be the heartbeat of the Latin music industry. He enjoyed success with Orquesta Versalles there for several months, never fully aware of the impact "Lady" was making on Latin music in the rest of the world. Believing Profono Records failed to meet his expectations, La Palabra left the label in 1984.

In 1985 La Palabra, who had been working as "Fito Foster" began to officially use his artistic name, "La Palabra," and formed a new group called Sensation 85 with former members of Versalles. That year the band released a self-titled debut album featuring Cuban jazz flautist Nestor Torres and Nicaraguan bongo player Luis Enrique on vocals, Enrique's first outing as a salsa singer.

Sensation 85 enjoyed popularity at Miami dance clubs, filling venues such as the Riviera Lounge (later renamed Club Capri), Papa Grande (Big Daddy's), Maxim's Supper Club, the Copacabana, and Salsa 2000.

Even as more and more newcomer Salsa Romantica artists were offered lucrative recording deals with major labels in the late 1980s, including two of his own band members from Sensation 85 (Luis Enrique and Lefty Perez), the genre's creator unjustly remained unsigned. Understandably disillusioned and devastated, La Palabra left the music industry from 1988 until 1999, when he returned to Los Angeles.