Frankie Ruiz

Name:  Jose Antonio Torresola Ruiz
Date of birth: March 10th 1958
Place of birth: Patterson, New Jersey, USA
Died: August 9, 1998

Frankie Ruiz was one of the first to sing in salsa’s sensual style, salsa romantica, and has played an important role in the resurrection of salsa music’s popularity in the seventies. Ruiz received his primary and secondary education in Patterson. As a child he enjoyed singing to the tunes of salsa. After his parents divorced, he moved to Mayagüez, Puerto Rico with his mother.

While in Puerto Rico Frankie fell in love with the music of the popular salsa band, La Solución. He learned the band’s repertoire as he attended as many of the group’s performances that he could. Though his mother requested musical director Roberto Rivera to try him out, Ruiz was never given the opportunity until the lead singer was unable to make it to a performance at a local night club. Frankie was asked to stand in for a night and he impressed the band so much that he was invited to become a full time member of the band. Ruiz accepted.

After being the lead singer for three years, Ruiz left La Solución and joined Tommy Olivencia’s orchestra in the early seventies. During the years spent with the group he made his biggest hit, "La Duda" and embarked on his solo career in the mid-eighties. Soon his singing career was ruined by drug and alcohol dependency and a constant yearning for life on the edge.

Frankie Ruiz, lost his life due to complications of AIDS on August 9, 1998, his life and destiny very similar to that of Hector Lavoe, another great salsa artist.

Trivia:
As a child he joined a local band called The Charlie Lopez Orchestra and recorded his first song Salsa Buena

Discography:
1987 Voy pa´ encima
1989 Mas grande que nunca
1990 En vivo y a todo color
1990 Solista pero no solo
1994 Los Ruiz Señores
1996 Puerto Rico, soy tuyo
1996 Complícame
1998 Nacimiento Y Recuerdos
 

By Lourd Vijay
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About the Author: Lourd Vijay is the principal Promoter of Latin culture, music and dance in the Asian Region. He recently stood 10th at the “most Popular Entrepreneur of the year 2009” amongst 180 nominees from across the country. An innovative choreographer and a very able instructor, he is the director of the Lourd Vijay’s Dance Studios (www.lvds.in) in India.