Roberto Roena Y Su Apollo Sound ‎– No Me Hagas Sombra Mi Socio

Roberto Roena was born on January 16, 1940, in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico; his last name is occasionally spelled as Rohena. A salsa bandleader, Roena began his musical career as a dancer with various bands in Puerto Rico - he later became known as "El Gran Bailarín" (The Great Dancer). While performing as a dancer and chorus singer with Cortijo Y Su Combo, the band's leader Rafael Cortijo gave Roena his first percussion lessons. He settled for the bongo and became a member of Cortijo's band between 1957 and 1962. Roberto was among the seven accompanists, led by pianist Rafael Ithier, who defected from Cortijo's Combo in May 1962 to become the basis of El Gran Combo. During his tenure with Gran Combo he appeared on Kako's classic Latin jam outing Puerto Rican All-Stars Featuring Kako, recorded in 1963, and 1967"s Los Mejores Mujsicos De Puerto Rico, directed and arranged by Ray Santos. In 1966, Roena made his recording debut as leader with a band called Megatones on Se Pone Bueno/It Gets Better on Alegre Records. Panamanian Camilo Azuquita provided the lead vocals and El Gran Combo's lead vocalists at the time, Andy Montañez and Pellín Rodríguez, sang in the chorus. Roena left Gran Combo in mid-1969. He signed with Fania International (later called just International), a division of Jerry Masucci and Johnny Pacheco's Fania Records, and debuted with his band Apollo Sound on Roberto Roena Y Su Apollo Sound. The great Puerto Rican composer, Catalino Curet Alonso, was the album's "creative musical director" and wrote the smash hit track "Tu Loco Loco, Y Yo Tranquilo". From the outset, Apollo Sound featured a line-up of two trumpets, trombone, tenor saxophone (doubling on flute), rhythm section (bongo, conga, timbales, bass, piano) and voices (lead and chorus). A third trumpet was added in the mid-70s and the resultant front-line combination was retained into the 90s. While preserving their rhythmic integrity, Roena and Apollo Sound developed into one of salsa's more progressive and sophisticated outfits with their own highly distinctive style. To help achieve this, Roena hired some of Puerto Rico's most creative arrangers over the years, including Bobby Valentín, Elías Lop‚s, Luis "Perico" Ortiz, Julio "Gunda" Merced, Papo Lucca, Louis García, Tito Rivera and Humberto Ramírez.