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Hector Lavoe was born on September 30, 1946 to Luis and Pachita Perez in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
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Hector goes to school and plays hockey fro a year. He gets expelled for fighting. When he came home to his father (Hector created the word), FUUAAACATA.
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Hector goes to NYC despite his father's comment"if you go to New York, forget you have a father". He gets a job in a ten piece salsa band singing at bars and clubs for $18 a night.
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Hector boarded a plane to New York to achieve his dream of becoming a salsa star despite of his father's words "if you go to New York, forget you have a father". He met various stars including the famous Willie Colon and Johnny Pacheco.
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Colon asked Hector to be part of his first album El Malo. Hector was featured on 3 songs with Willie.
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Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe split up. Hector was doing a load of drugs and started coming late to shows and sometimes not even showing up.
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Hector comes out with El Sabio to show he is good on his own. The album was a great success.
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Hector was scheduled to perform in NYC, but never showed up. He jumped out of his hotel window in an attempted suicide. He survived the attempt. He began to use a heavy amount of drugs and dangerous sexual activity. He was eventually diagnosed with HIV
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This is the beginning of the end for Hector. Almost his entire family was wiped out in a tragic fire. His 17 year old son was also accidently shot and killed by his best friend.
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Hector's HIV eventually turned to AIDS. He died from AIDS complications. He became more famous after death with books written and the famous movie "El Cantante" made in his honor.