Willie Rosario
| Willie Rosario | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | "Mr. Afinque" |
| Born | May 6, 1930 |
| Origin | Coamo, Puerto Rico |
| Genres | Salsa |
| Occupation(s) | musician, composer and bandleader of salsa music |
 You may listen to Willie Rosario's "Callejero" on YouTube. |
Willie Rosario (born Fernando Luis Rosario Marín, May 6, 1930) is a musician, composer and bandleader of salsa music. He is also known as Mr. Afinque.
Rosario was born and raised in Coamo, Puerto Rico into a poor, but hard working family. His parents realized that as a child Willie was musically inclined and had him take guitar lessons at the age of 6. He received his primary and secondary education in his hometown. His mother also had him take saxophone classes; however, what he really was interested in was the conga. In 1946, he formed a band called Coamex but, a year later when he was 17 years old, his family to moved to New York City. The family rented an apartment in a Manhattan community known as Spanish Harlem.
Rosario came into contact and played the conga for various orchestras. After he graduated from high school he continued his education and studied journalism and public relations. On one occasion Rosario visited the famed Palladium Ballroom in New York, where Tito Puente was playing the timbales. This was the beginning of his love affair with that instrument. He was 22 years old when he took classes with percussionist Henry Adler.
In 1959, Rosario organized his first band and played for three years in the Club Caborrojeño in New York. When not playing, he would work as a disc jockey for WADO, a Spanish speaking radio station in New York.
In 1962, he signed with the Alegre Records label and traveled and performed with his band in Venezuela, Panama, Colombia, Mexico, Curaçao, U.S. Virgin Islands and all over the United States. In the 1980s he opened the Tropicana Club in Puerto Rico in association with fellow Puerto Rican musician Bobby Valentín.
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Wikipedia