LATIN STAR JOHNNY PACHECO DIED

​Juan Azarías Pacheco Knipping known as Johnny Pacheco (March 25, 1935 – February 15, 2021) was born in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. Pacheco became an internationally renowned star and toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. His charanga was the first Latin band to headline the Apollo Theater in New York City in 1962 and 1963. Pacheco a resident of Fort Lee, New Jersey, died at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, New Jersey, aged 85, after being hospitalized for complications stemming from pneumonia.
In 1946, when Pacheco was 11, his family moved to New York City. He inherited his passion for music from his father, Rafael Azarías Pacheco, who was the bandleader and clarinetist of the Orquesta Santa Cecilia, one of the leading Dominican big bands of the 1930s, famous for being the first to record Luis Alberti's merengue "Compadre Pedro Juan". Rafael was the grandson of a Spanish soldier who arrived during the Spanish reannexation of Santo Domingo. His mother, Octavia Knipping Rochet, was the granddaughter of a French colonist, and the great-granddaughter of a German merchant who was married to a Dominican woman born to Spanish colonists.
Pacheco continued polishing his musical skills, learning to play the accordion, violin, flute, saxophone, and clarinet. He also graduated in electrical engineering at Brooklyn Technical High School in the 1950s, but he quit his job as an engineer due to the low salary. In 1953, Pacheco played percussion and sung with Gil Suárez's band and, in 1954, he formed The Chuchulecos Boys with Eddie Palmieri on piano, Barry Rogers on trombone, and other future figures of renown in the New York salsa scene: Al Santiago, Mike Collazo, and Ray Santos. They played at weddings and other social events.
Pacheco was a Dominican musician, arranger, bandleader, and record producer. He later played percussion for several bands, including late-night shows, Lou Pérez's band The Mambaleros, and the popular orchestras of Tito Puente, Xavier Cugat, and Dioris Valladares. As a flutist and bandleader, Pacheco became one of the leading exponents of the Cuban charanga format in the United States in the early 1960s. As the founder and musical director of Fania Records, Pacheco became a leading figure in the New York salsa scene in the 1960s and 1970s.
Pacheco popularized the use of the term "salsa" and established the Fania All-Stars to showcase the leading artists of the genre. On March 24, 2009, Pacheco was awarded "El Soberano", the highest distinction given by the Association of Art Columnists of the Dominican Republic. In August 2020, Johnny Pacheco's composition "Celia y Tito' by Tito Puente and Celia Cruz was featured in the 4th season finale of the NBC TV network program "World of Dance' which is produced and judged by international film and recording star Jennifer Lopez. Among his many songs utilized in Film and Television.