Pérez Prado
Pérez Prado began his career as pianist and arranger for the Sonora Matancera, an internationally successful dance music ensemble from his hometown of Matanzas.Despite several innovative albums and a new form of mambo he called "dengue", Pérez Prado was never able to duplicate his earlier success and returned to Mexico in the 1970s, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1980.[1] Pérez Prado and his Orchestra performed at the famed tenth Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on June 20, 1954.The mambo craze peaked in the US in 1955, when Pérez Prado hit the American charts at number one with a cha-cha-chá version of "Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)" (by French composer Louiguy).This arrangement, featuring trumpeter Billy Regis, held the spot for 10 consecutive weeks, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[12] Pérez Prado's popularity in the United States matched the peak of the first wave of interest in Latin music outside the Hispanic and Latino communities during the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s.His eleven-year exile came to an end after Mexican singer and actress María Victoria interceded with then-President Adolfo López Mateos to allow Pérez Prado back into Mexico.[16][17] By 1960, Pérez Prado's popularity in the United States began to wane, with the new decade giving way to new rhythms, such as rock and roll and changing trends in pop music.Pérez Prado continued to release recordings in Mexico, Central and South America, as well as Japan, where he was still revered as one of the reigning giants of the music industry.Although he did not create the genre—Orestes López and his brother Cachao did in 1937—Pérez Prado has been recognized as a key figure in the refinement and popularization of mambo and Cuban dance music in general across the world in the 1950s.In America, he worked with West Coast trumpeters such as Maynard Ferguson, Pete Candoli and Ollie Mitchell (featured on "Flight of the Bumble Bee"), trombonist-vocalist Ray Vasquez, and a variety of percussionists, including Armando Peraza, Mongo Santamaría and Alex Acuña."Patricia" was included in La Dolce Vita (1960), Goodbye, Columbus (1969) and Space Cowboys (2000), as well as the episode "Some Enchanted Evening" (1990) of the animated sitcom The Simpsons.