Bobby Cruz
| Bobby Cruz | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 1, 1938 |
| Origin | Hormigueros, Puerto Rico |
| Genres | Salsa |
 You may listen to Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz's "Mr Trumpet Man" on YouTube
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Bobby Cruz (born February 2, 1937) is a salsa singer and religious minister. He was part of the duo Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz. Both Cruz and Ray became religious ministers and as such founded over 70 Christian churches during the time they retired from popular music, which lasted about 16 years.
Cruz was born in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico and raised in the humble surroundings on his family's farm; his father was a sugar cane fields worker who later became a workers' union leader. When a child, his parents moved to New York City where he was educated; there he enjoyed singing; he considered El Gran Combo's style of music as the most influential in his life.
In New York in 1964 Bobby Cruz met fellow Puerto Rican multi-instrumentalist Richie Ray and soon joined his orchestra as a back-up singer. In 1968, Cruz was the lead singer on the English-language song "Mr. Trumpet Man" (an attempt at recording boogaloo which became a major hit in New York and other salsa markets).
Between 1965-75, the pairing of Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz had become one of the most popular salsa duets in the world. Ray and Cruz had a considerable influence in the Latino music world just because of four accomplishments:
Ray and Cruz won a total of nine gold record awards during this period with hits such as:
In 1970, Cruz and Ray opened a nightclub in San Juan, Puerto Rico. However they found that managing the club required too much of their time as they had a lot of other commitments to attend to and so decided that it would be much better if they sold the nightclub.
In addition to the duets, Cruz also sang solo when in 1972 he recorded Bobby Cruz canta para Tí (Bobby Cruz sings for You), produced by Richie Ray. He also reached No.1 in the Latin Music Hit Charts with 'Ya ni te Acuerdas" (You don't even Remember).
In 1974, they won first place in the Festival of Orchestras for the composition "La Zafra", whose lyrics describe the struggles of sugar cane workers in western Puerto Rico and elsewhere. Later that year Ray became a Christian convert. Initially Cruz refused to accept his friend's change, however two months' later he himself became a convert.
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Wikipedia