1970s–1980s Blades earned multiple degrees in political science and law at the
Universidad Nacional de Panamá and performed legal work at the Bank of Panama as a law student. Blades' first recording in the US was the solo album
De Panamá a New York, with the Pete Rodriguez Orchestra, He then returned to Panamá and finished his degree. In 1974, he moved to the United States, initially staying with his exiled parents in Miami, Florida, before moving to New York City where he began working in the mailroom at
Fania Records. Its most famous song was "
Pedro Navaja", a song inspired by the 1928 song "
Mack the Knife"; it tells the story of a neighborhood thug who is killed by a street walker who knows him (he stabs her, she shoots him, they both die, a bum finds them, and takes their belongings). The song inspired a 1980 Puerto Rican musical,
La verdadera historia de Pedro Navaja, and a 1984 Mexican film,
Pedro Navaja, neither of which had Blades' involvement. Blades wrote and sang a sequel song, "Sorpresas", (surprises) on his 1985 album,
Escenas, which revealed that Pedro had survived the incident and was still alive. Blades became dissatisfied with Fania and tried to terminate his contract, but was legally obliged to record several more albums, released after his departure. His 1981 song "
Tiburón" (with Willie Colon) protested against military interventions by the United States (the metaphorical "shark" in the song's title) in Latin America. It received little airplay in the US because of its controversial political message, with Blades being accused of sympathizing with communism and becoming particularly unpopular with the
Cuban community in Miami. In 1994, he mounted an unsuccessful Panamanian presidential bid, founding a
center-left party called Movimiento Papa Egoró (whose name comes from the
Emberá language and means "Mother Earth"). The album that followed this experience was titled
La Rosa de los Vientos. He also made award-winning music such as Pena and Amor y Control, won the
1997 Grammy for
Best Tropical Latin Performance, and all its songs were by Panamanian songwriters, recorded using all Panamanian musicians. In 1996, Blades along with Son Miserables performed "No Te Miento (I Am Not Lying [to you])" for the
AIDS benefit album
Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin produced by the
Red Hot Organization. In 1997, Blades headed the cast of singer/songwriter
Paul Simon's first
Broadway musical,
The Capeman, based on a true story about a violent youth who becomes a poet in prison, which also starred
Marc Anthony and
Ednita Nazario. His many film appearances include
The Milagro Beanfield War (1988),
The Two Jakes (1990),
Predator 2 (1990), ''Mo' Better Blues
(1990), Color of Night (1994), and Devil's Own
(1997). He also guest-starred in an episode of The X Files'' titled, "
El Mundo Gira," playing immigration agent Conrad Lozano. In 1999, he played Mexican artist
Diego Rivera in
Tim Robbins'
Cradle Will Rock. In the 2003 film
Once Upon a Time in Mexico, starring
Johnny Depp,
Antonio Banderas, and
Willem Dafoe, he played the role of a retired FBI agent. Blades's 1999 album
Tiempos, which he recorded with musicians from the Costa Rican groups
Editus and Sexteto de Jazz Latino, represented a break from his salsa past and a further rejection of commercial trends in
Latin music. Ironically, the album won a
Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album. Blades was inducted into the
International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2001. Even more eclectic was the 2002 album
Mundo with the 11-member Editus Ensemble and bagpiper
Eric Rigler, which incorporated instruments from around the world.
Mundo won the
Grammy Award for Best World Music Album, and was also nominated for a
Latin Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The same year, Blades guested on
world music artist
Derek Trucks' album,
Joyful Noise. In 2003 he followed
Mundo with a web site free-download project. Blades was presented with the Founders Award at the 2005
ASCAP Latin Awards. In 2004, he put his artistic career on hold when he began serving a five-year appointment as Panama's minister of tourism. Beginning in June 2007, however, Blades turned some of his attention back to his artistic career, presenting an
online TV show titled
Show de Ruben Blades (SDRB) on his website. In November 2005 he received an honorary degree from the
Berklee College of Music. In May 2007, Blades was sued by his former bandmate Willie Colón for breach of contract. This led to a series of suits and countersuits that lasted over five years, resulting in decisions in Blades' favor. In the middle of 2008 he took a leave of absence for a mini-tour in Europe, backed by the Costa Rican band Son de Tikizia. When his government service was completed in June 2009, he reunited the members of Seis del Solar for the 25th anniversary of
Buscando América in a tour of the Americas.
2010–present In June 2011, Blades was given the Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award by ASCAP and WhyHunger. In 2014, Blades was the closing act for the
Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico. In 2015, Blades' album
Tangos won a Grammy award for Best Latin Pop Album. Blades expressed his interest in making another run for president of Panama in 2019. In 2015, Blades was cast in the regular role of
Daniel Salazar in the
AMC post-apocalyptic drama
Fear the Walking Dead, a companion series to
The Walking Dead. Blades first appears in the second episode "
So Close, Yet So Far". In 2017, Blades performed as one of the featured artists for
Puerto Rico in
Lin-Manuel Miranda's charity single "
Almost Like Praying" to raise money for victims of
Hurricane Maria. In September 2018, Blades was appointed as
NYU Steinhardt Dean's Inaugural Scholar-in-Residence at
New York University. In 2021, Blades was honored as the
Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year for his contributions to Latin music and activism. In 2024, Blades received the Doctor of Music honorary degree at
Princeton University in New Jersey, USA. Lincoln Center in NYC named Blades its Visionary Artist for the 2024-2025 season. In 2025, it was discovered on
Finding Your Roots that Blades is the newly discovered grandson of poet
Ricardo Miró. == Personal life ==