Miguelito Valdés: Mr. Babalú

Before mambo conquered America, its raw Afro-Cuban energy needed voices big enough to carry it. Few were bigger than Miguelito Valdés — "Mr. Babalú," one of the most thrilling singers Cuba ever produced.^[1]

A Havana powerhouse

Miguelito Valdés was born on 6 September 1912 in Havana, to a Spanish father and a Mexican mother from Yucatán.^[1] He came up in the rough-and-tumble world of Havana music, steeped in Cuban rumba and son, and developed a booming, percussive vocal style of enormous force and showmanship.^[1]

Casino de la Playa and "Bruca Maniguá"

In 1937 Valdés joined the Orquesta Casino de la Playa, and that June the band began recording for RCA-Victor — debuting with "Bruca Maniguá," a song composed by Arsenio Rodríguez.^[1] The record, with its Afro-Cuban theme and Valdés's commanding delivery, was a landmark, helping bring the deep son of Arsenio into the popular mainstream.^[1]

"Mr. Babalú"

Valdés earned his lasting nickname from his electrifying performance of Margarita Lecuona's "Babalú," an invocation of the Santería deity that became his signature.^[1] He recorded it with three of the greatest orchestras of the age — Casino de la Playa in Havana, and Xavier Cugat and Machito in New York — and the song became so identified with him that "Mr. Babalú" stuck for life.^[1] (Years later Desi Arnaz would make the same song famous to American television audiences.)

His career spanned more than five decades and the whole arc from rumba to mambo, until he collapsed and died of a heart attack on stage in Bogotá, Colombia, on 9 November 1978 — a performer to the very end.^[1]

Why he matters

Miguelito Valdés matters because he was a vital bridge between Afro-Cuban roots and the international mambo era. He brought the rumba's power and Arsenio Rodríguez's son to the glamorous dance orchestras of Havana and New York, and in "Babalú" he created one of the most famous performances in Latin music. With his enormous voice and presence, he helped prepare the ground on which Pérez Prado and the mambo would build.