Bobby Matos was born in the
Bronx,
New York on July 24, 1941. He began playing music by hitting pots and pans in his grandmother's apartment. As a youth, he studied with
conga drum masters Patato Valdez and
Mongo Santamaría. While playing all over New York, he was encouraged to play
timbales by
Willie Bobo and
Tito Puente and in the late 60s attended
The New School and the
Manhattan School of Music. Around this time, he recorded "My Latin Soul" for
Phillips International Records, which made his reputation as a bandleader. Matos toured and recorded with artists
Ben Vereen,
Bette Midler,
Fred Neil,
Jim Croce,
Joe Loco, Ray Rivera,
Miriam Makeba, and scores of others. He had an extensive discography and 5 critically acclaimed albums with
Ubiquity Records. One of his last record was "Gratitude" on Dawan Muhammadd's LifeForce jazz label. Bobby Matos died of cancer in
Los Angeles, on November 11, 2017, at the age of 76. ==References==