Cheo Feliciano: The Sonero’s Sonero

Salsa produced many great singers, but few were as warmly loved as Cheo Feliciano, the Puerto Rican sonero whose smooth, swinging voice and generous spirit made him a defining figure of the genre — and whose life story, from poverty through addiction to triumphant comeback, became one of salsa’s most cherished narratives.^[1]

From "El Combo Las Latas" to New York

José "Cheo" Feliciano was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in 1935.^[1] Music came early and improvised: at eight he formed his first group, "El Combo Las Latas" ("The Cans Combo"), so named because the boys were too poor for real instruments and made them from cans.^[1] He studied solfège and basic technique at the Juan Morel Campos school, and at seventeen, with his family, he joined the great Puerto Rican migration to New York of the 1950s.^[1]

The Joe Cuba years

In New York, Feliciano auditioned for and joined the Joe Cuba Sextet, making his professional singing debut on 5 October 1957 — fittingly, singing the bolero "Perfidia."^[1] He remained with the sextet for a decade, becoming a star of the boogaloo and Latin-soul era and one of the most admired young voices in Latin New York.^[1]

A comeback and a Fania star is born

Feliciano’s ascent was interrupted by a struggle with drug addiction. But after rehabilitation he returned to music in 1972, joining the Fania label at the height of the salsa boom — and his comeback was spectacular.^[1] His first solo album, Cheo, broke sales records in the Latin market and made him one of Fania’s biggest stars.^[1]

That album carried his signature song, "Anacaona," a tribute to the Taíno queen of Hispaniola who resisted the Spanish conquest — a stately, anthemic salsa that became one of the most beloved recordings of the era.^[1] Over the 1970s he recorded some fifteen albums for Fania, with further hits like "Amada Mía" and "Juan Albañil."^[1]

A beloved elder

Feliciano was recognized throughout his life as a pioneer and an influence on countless singers; in 1984 he was honored with a tribute concert featuring Rubén Blades and Joe Cuba.^[1] A consummate sonero — a master of the improvised vocal call-and-response over the montuno — he was equally at home in the tender bolero, and his warmth made him one of the most cherished figures in the music. He died on 17 April 2014, mourned across the Latin world.^[1]

Why he matters

Cheo Feliciano matters because he embodied salsa’s soul: its roots in working-class Puerto Rican migration, its capacity for redemption, and its highest art of improvised singing. From a boy with a tin-can band to a Fania legend, he gave the genre some of its most enduring performances — and in "Anacaona" a song that joined the dance floor to the deep history of the Caribbean. Alongside Larry Harlow and the Fania circle, he helped define what salsa could be at its most soulful.