Profile: Frankie Ruiz: Another Salsa Casualty

Literally hundreds of Latin London readers will have danced - probably unknowingly - to Frankie Ruiz' swinging salsa romántica tunes in salsa clubs and, if you own a copy of London's top selling Latin compilation Salsa Fresca!, then you'll be familiar with his rousing hit track "Bailando" ("Dancing"). Sadly, on August 9, Frankie became the most recent addition to a growing list of salsa careers destroyed or curtailed by substance abuse when he died of liver cirrhosis at the University Hospital of New Jersey. Just over a decade ago it was no exaggeration to apply the over used title of "salsa superstar" to Frankie: it seemed then that almost his every recorded utterance was a chart-topper or top ten hit. However as his success began to overheat, drug and alcohol problems increasingly got him into trouble with the law and, ultimately, extinguished his life.

Born in Paterson, New Jersey, to Puerto Rican parents on March 10 1958, Frankie became hooked on drugs during his teens. He started singing salsa at the age of nine years old and made his recording debut on a one-take live demo of two tracks with Charlie López and La Orquesta Nueva in 1971 (the two songs "Salsa Buena", written by Ruiz, and "Borinquen" were issued in 1993 as the CD single Charlie López y La Orquesta Nueva - Canta: Frankie Ruiz). In 1974 Frankie's mother, Hilda Ruiz, took him to live in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, where he sang with the groups La Dictadora and La Moderna Vibración.

Through Hilda's persistence, he secured a job as co-lead singer with the Mayagüez-based band La Solución in 1977. Ruiz recorded two albums with them. The first, on PDC, reissued in 1996 as Frankie Ruiz y La Solución on Canal, spawned a hit reworking of his self-penned "Salsa Buena". The second outing, 1980's Orquesta La Solución on LAD (a subsidiary of TH at the time), included the hits "La Vecina" ("The Neighbor") and the perennially popular classic "La Rueda" ("The Wheel").

After three years with La Solución, seasoned bandleader Tommy Olivencia hired Frankie as a co-lead vocalist with his prestigious orchestra. His first track with this band was "Viajera", a track Olivencia contributed to the 1981 TH roster showcase Primer Concierto De La Familia TH.

In three years with Olivencia, Ruiz made as many hit albums: Un Triángulo De Triunfo! (1981), Tommy Olivencia (1983) and Celebrando Otro Aniversario (1984), which went gold, and sang lead on the hit "Que Se Mueran De Envidia" ("Let Them Die From Envy"), Olivencia's contribution to the second TH roster showcase Segundo Concierto De La Familia TH (1983). The monster Ruiz/Olivencia hit "Lo Dudo" ("I Doubt It"), from Celebrando Otro Aniversario, was a salsafied version of a ballad by the Mexican star José José, and is now regarded as a milestone in the development of salsa romántica or salsa erótica. In 1984 and 1985, Frankie collected Farándula magazine Diplo awards for Best Salsa Vocalist.

Ruiz's popularity had outgrown his position with Olivencia, and the TH bosses at the time (executive producer Tony Moreno, producer Frank Torres and recording director Julio César Delgado) launched his solo career. His first album Solista Pero No Solo (1985) topped the Billboard tropical/salsa chart as well as Puerto Rican and Latin American charts; with two number 1 hit singles and five top tens it was one of the most successful salsa albums of the '80s and won Best Tropical/Salsa Album in Billboard's first Latin Music Awards in 1986. Voy Pa' Encíma! (1987) yielded six hits, including his biggest, "Desnúdate Mujer" ("Take Off Your Clothes Woman"), and also did well in Spain. He was Billboard's '87 Tropical/Salsa Artist Of The Year. Historia Musical de Frankie Ruiz, a compilation of his 14 best tracks with La Solución, Olivencia and his own band, was another runaway success in late 1987.

The mounting temptations and pressures of fame, together with his gruelling touring schedule, led to an escalation of his drug habit. In June 1988, during his arrest for an altercation with a male flight attendant on board an airplane, he was found in possession of crack cocaine. The following December he was sentenced to 14 months prison and rehabilitation. TH (now Rodven/PolyGram Latino) tried, but failed, to get him back in the studio to re-record vocals for En Vivo Y A Todo Color..! (1988). Consequently, his emotive voice sounded strained on half the tracks; the album did less well, but his imprisonment did not hinder 1989's Mas Grande Que Nunca (Bigger Than Ever), with his voice sounding rested and back on form, and reaching number 1 in early 1990. Meanwhile, Frankie ran into further drug related legal wrangles and was sentenced to a further prison term. Upon his release from prison, Frankie was ready to add the lead vocals to 1992's Mi Libertad (My Liberty), which included "Bailando". It went straight to number 2 in Puerto Rico's Farándula chart.

"I did a show four or five years ago," premier New York salsa promoter and RMM label boss Ralph Mercado told Billboard this August, "where he had just gotten out of jail, and I'll never forget how he went onstage at [New York's] sold-out Madison Square Garden and the response he got from the people - they loved him so much." Ruiz received a Farándula Diplo award for Salsa Comeback in 1993 and Puerto Rico Soy Tuyo (1993) made the Farándula top ten. His bestsellers continued with Mirandote (1994) on Rodven and Tranquilo (1996) on Rodven/PolyGram Latino; the song "Ironía" from the latter album garnered him a trophy at Billboard's '97 Latin Music Awards.

Frankie reflected on his prison experience in 1993: "The first year was very hard, but I learned to pass the time and recover my mind. The incarceration let me reevaluate my life and learn what kind of person I was. I learned that I was one of the best singers around, but my mind was in the clouds and when I got tired of one cloud, I jumped into another You know, when you get into drugs, the people that suffer the most is your family. Today, they know I am a new man standing on the avenue, and this time Si voy pa' encíma. (I am going for the top)." Pitifully it's understood that this personal renaissance proved to be short lived and Frankie slid back into a pattern of substance abuse.

His last public appearance was at Madison Square Garden on 11 July this year. Regrettably, Britain's salsa audience was never treated to one of his reputed charismatic stage performances. Rodven/PolyGram Latino recently reissued the recommended double CD compilation Frankie Ruiz - Oro Salsero: 20 Exitos (1994) and propose to posthumously release the recording he was working on before his untimely death.

Frankie will be greatly missed, but his music will live on in salsa dance halls throughout the world.

John Child is a Latin music contributor to the Penguin, Guinness and Virgin Encyclopedias of Popular Music. Watch out for John's Latin music, calypso and soca entries in the forthcoming second edition of The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music.

Special thanks to Rebecca Lewis of Latin London for the permission to publish this article.