What is Hector Lavoe's Net Worth?
Hector Lavoe was a Puerto Rican salsa singer who had a net worth of $1 million. Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez (better known as Hector Lavoe) was born September 30, 1946 in Ponce, Puerto Rico. El Cantante De Los Cantantes, as he is affectionately known, came to New York at the age of 17 with the dream of making it big. With no formal musical training, he caught the ears of Johnny Pacheco. When Pacheco began recruiting musicians and singers for his new Fania label, he introduced Lavoe to a young trombonist who was in need of a singer-Willie Colon. Colon was in the process of recording with Al Santiago's Alegre label when Pacheco saw the potential of Colon and included him on his roster as well. Lavoe and Colon collaborated for eight years and on many albums. Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe combined salsa, originally Afro-Cuban music, with Puerto Rican bombas, plenas, orisa, baquine y aginaldos, cumbia, merengue and other Latin American music, as well as jazz.
Lavoe and Colon then parted ways and the public questioned whether or not Lavoe could make it on his own, but Lavoe proved even more popular as a solo artist. Lavoe's life was unfortunately marred with several emotional tragedies such as the death of his mother when he was only four years old, the death of his brother in a car accident, the accidental death of his son-who was only 17 years old-the murder of his mother-in-law, followed by the death of his father. The weight of these tragedies combined with alcohol and drug addiction took their toll. In 1988, Hector jumped out of the window of a hotel room in Puerto Rico. Some thought it was a suicide attempt, others said he was afraid of his wife after the incident (fueling rumors that he was pushed), still others thought addiction was finally getting the best of him. Reportedly, people close to him said that Hector had seen a vision of his son, appearing outside his window, asking him to come. Hector survived the fall, but was never the same. He occasionally appeared in clubs and sang a song or two, but his health continued to deteriorate until he finally died on June 29, 1993 in Manhattan, New York City, New York.
