Early life Dámaso Pérez Prado was born in
Matanzas,
Cuba, on December 11, 1916; his mother Sara Prado was a school teacher, his father Pablo Pérez a journalist at
El Heraldo de Cuba. He studied classical
piano in his early childhood, and later played
organ and piano in local clubs. For a time, he was pianist and arranger for the
Sonora Matancera, Cuba's best-known musical group at the time. He also worked with casino orchestras in
Havana for most of the 1940s. He was nicknamed "El Cara de Foca" ("Seal Face") by his peers at the time.). In 1950, arranger
Sonny Burke heard "Qué rico el mambo" while on vacation in Mexico and recorded it back in the
United States. The single was a hit, which led Pérez Prado to launch a US tour. He was to record the song again some years later under the title "Mambo Jambo". Pérez Prado's appearances in 1951 were sell-outs. Producers Herman Diaz Jr. and
Ethel Gabriel signed Pérez Prado to RCA Victor in the US and produced his best-selling recording of "
Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White.
Famous pieces Pérez Prado is the composer of such famous pieces as "
Mambo No. 5" (later a UK chart-topper for both
Lou Bega in 1999 and animated character
Bob the Builder in 2001) and "Mambo No. 8". The mambo craze peaked in the US in 1955, when Pérez Prado hit the American
charts at number one with a
cha-cha-chá version of "
Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)" (by French composer
Louiguy). This arrangement, featuring trumpeter Billy Regis, held the spot for 10 consecutive weeks, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a
gold disc. The song also went to number one in the UK and in Germany. Pérez Prado had first recorded this title for the movie
Underwater! in 1954, where
Jane Russell can be seen dancing to "Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)". In 1958, one of Pérez Prado's own compositions, "
Patricia", became the last record to ascend to No. 1 on the Jockeys and Top 100 charts, both of which gave way the following week to the then newly introduced
Billboard Hot 100 chart, where in its first week had the song at No. 2 behind
Ricky Nelson's "
Poor Little Fool." The song also went to number one in Germany, and in the UK it reached number eight. The Italian filmmaker
Federico Fellini chose to feature "Patricia" twice in his 1960 masterpiece,
La Dolce Vita. He also performed in films in the United States and Europe, as well as in
Mexican cinema (
Rumberas film), always with his trademark
goatee and
turtle-neck sweaters and
vests. In 1953, during the height of his popularity in Mexico, Pérez Prado was unexpectedly deported from that country and was not permitted to return until 1964. A
popular legend among Mexicans is that he was deported for having done a mambo arrangement of the
Mexican National Anthem, which would have constituted a crime under
Mexican law. However, according to journalist Iván Restrepo, the actual reason for his exile was that a Mexican businessman who had hired Pérez Prado to work at the
Margo theater in Mexico City became enraged when Pérez Prado decided to work with another businessman who paid him more, prompting the first businessman to report him to the migration authorities as Pérez Prado lacked a work permit. Pérez Prado, who had just finished recording the soundtrack for the movie
Cantando nace el amor, was then approached by two migration agents who asked him to show them his work permit; since he did not have the permit, Pérez Prado bribed the officers to let him finish recording the mambo
Alekum Salem before being deported. His eleven-year exile came to an end after Mexican singer and actress
María Victoria interceded with then-President
Adolfo López Mateos to allow Pérez Prado back into Mexico. By 1960, Pérez Prado's popularity in the United States began to wane, with the new decade giving way to new rhythms, such as
rock and roll and changing trends in
pop music. His association with RCA Victor ended in the mid 1960s, and afterward his recorded output was mainly limited to smaller labels with limited distribution mostly in
Latin America and recycled Latin-style anthologies. After returning to Mexico, he had a final hit there with the self-penned
danzón "
Norma, la de Guadalajara", which
topped the Mexican charts in 1968.
Later life and death In the early 1970s, Pérez Prado retired to a spacious apartment off
Mexico City's grand
Paseo de la Reforma with his wife and two children, son Dámaso Pérez Salinas (known as Pérez Prado Jr.) and daughter María Engracia. While his career in the US had declined, his popularity in Latin America was still strong. He continued to tour there and he performed regularly on Mexican radio and television. Pérez Prado continued to release recordings in Mexico, Central and South America, as well as Japan, where he was still revered as one of the reigning giants of the music industry. RCA issued a live recording made during his 1973 concert tour in Japan. In 1981, Pérez Prado was featured in a musical revue entitled
Sun, which enjoyed a long run in Mexico City. In 1983, his brother Pantaleón Pérez Prado, a musician who was also known professionally as Pérez Prado, died, and the press
erroneously reported Dámaso's death. On September 12, 1987, Pérez Prado made his final appearance in the US in
Hollywood where he played to a packed house. Plagued by persistent ill health for the next two years, he died of complications from a stroke in
Mexico City on September 14, 1989, at the age of 72. ==Legacy==