Salsa star Johnny Pacheco, who was a co-founder of Fania Records, Eddie Palmieri’s bandmate and backer of music stars such as Ruben Blades, Willie Colon and Celia Cruz, has died aged 85.
He had been in hospital in New York a few days earlier for pneumonia, his wife, Maria Elena “Cuqui” Pacheco, said on the artist’s Facebook account.
Fania Records tweeted that the musician was “the man most responsible for the genre of salsa music.
“He was a visionary and his music will live on eternally.”
In a post on his social media, Blades said that “Pacheco leaves us with an important musical legacy, represented by all the collaborations he made during his distinguished career”.