Dámaso Pérez Prado (b. December 11, 1916 - d. September 14, 1989) was a Cuban/Mexican bandleader and composer. He is commonly referred to as the "King of the Mambo". Prado was born in Matanzas, Cuba. His mother was a school teacher, his father a newspaper man. He studied classical piano in his early childhood, and later played organ and piano in local clubs. For a time, he was pianist and arranger for the Sonora Matancera, Cuba's best known musical group. ...show more

Dámaso Pérez Prado (b. December 11, 1916 - d. September 14, 1989) was a Cuban/Mexican bandleader and composer. He is commonly referred to as the "King of the Mambo".

Prado was born in Matanzas, Cuba. His mother was a school teacher, his father a newspaper man. He studied classical piano in his early childhood, and later played organ and piano in local clubs. For a time, he was pianist and arranger for the Sonora Matancera, Cuba's best known musical group. He also worked with casino orchestras in Havana for most of the 1940s, and gained a reputation for being an imaginative (his solo playing style predated bebop by at least five years), loud player. He was nicknamed "El Cara de Foca" ("Seal Face") by his peers at the time.

In 1948, he moved to Mexico to form his own band and record for RCA Victor. He quickly specialized in mambos, an upbeat adaptation of the Cuban danzón. Pérez Prado's mambos stood out among the competition, with their fiery brass riffs and strong sax counterpoints, and most of all, Prado's trademark grunts (he actually says "¡Dilo!", or "Say it!", in many of the perceived grunts). In 1950, arranger Sonny Burke heard "Qué rico mambo" while on vacation in Mexico and recorded it back in the U.S. as "Mambo Jambo". The single was a hit and Pérez Prado decided to profit himself from the success and tour the U.S. His appearances in 1951 were sell-outs and he began recording U.S. releases for RCA Victor.

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