Pedro Knight
| Pedro Knight | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Pedro Knight Caraballo |
| Born |
September 30, 1921 Havana, Cuba |
| Died | February 3, 2007 (aged 85) |
| Genres | Afro-Cuban conjunto |
| Occupation(s) | Trumpeter, manager |
| Years active | c. 1944–2007 |
| Labels | Fania, RMM Records & Video, Sony Discos |
| Associated acts | La Sonora Matancera, Celia Cruz |
Pedro Knight Caraballo (September 30, 1921 – February 3, 2007) was a Cuban musician, and the husband and manager of singer Celia Cruz.
Pedro Knight Caraballo was born September 30, 1921.
Knight was a trained trumpeter, and a "powerfully expressive" musician, according to Sue Stewart of The Guardian. At age 23, he joined the Havana-based, Afro-Cuban conjunto band, La Sonora Matancera ("the sound of Matanzas", a port with a large black population), that produced, highly rhythmic dance music rooted in traditional, Africa-based styles of son and guaracha, as revived decades later by the Buena Vista Social Club. The key to the band's sound relied on trumpets, percussion, Cuban guitar, double bass, voices, and piano. At the time, Havana was emerging as one of the world's most popular musical nightspots. By the 1950s the band's sophisticated arrangements and live radio performances had become part of the golden age of Cuban music, having appeared alongside American singers such as Nat King Cole and Sarah Vaughan.
In 1950, the band's leader, Rogelio Martínez, invited Celia Cruz, who had gained popularity for her radio performances and for breaking the color barrier with the sexy song and dance act Las Mulatas de Fuego at the Tropicana, to join the band. Over the course of six or seven years, she and Knight gradually became good friends, though she resisted his romantic advances because she feared a relationship with Knight, whom she knew enjoyed casual relationships with women and had five children at that point, would not work out.
In July 1960, a year and a half after Fidel Castro came to power, La Sonora Matancera went to Mexico City to accept a two-year touring contract, but Martínez announced during a radio interview that he had no intention of returning to Cuba, a stance in which the rest of the band joined him. After 18 months, the band accepted a long-term contract at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, which entitled them to American residencies. By then, Cruz fell in love with Knight, and the couple moved to New York, where they married on July 14, 1962, after Knight abandoned his own music to become Cruz's manager, and the couple were inseparable. Commenting on their relationship, Cruz said, "Pedro is my 50%. I am the one that sings, but he takes care of everything else."
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