Johnny Pacheco, Salsa Legend and co-founder of Fania Records, died at 85

Johnny Pacheco – the conductor, composer, producer, arranger and co-founder of the Fania Records label that helped popularize salsa internationally – has passed away, reports NPR. He was recently hospitalized, according to the brother of Fania co-founder Jerry Masucci, Alex Masucci. No cause of death has been revealed. Pacheco was 85 years old.

Pacheco was born in the Dominican Republic and moved with his family to New York City in the 1940s to escape the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. He learned several instruments himself before studying percussion at Julliard. He became a studio musician and in the early 1960s his group Pacheco Y Su Charanga popularized pachanga music.

In 1963, Pacheco founded Fania Records with Jerry Masucci. The label would soon become synonymous with salsa, and Pacheco was the label’s in-house producer. Pacheco and Fania have helped revive the careers of Celia Cruz, Willie Colón, Ruben Blades, Héctor Lavoe and many others. He wrote dozens of iconic songs, including “Mi Gente” (popularized by Lavoe). He was also a prolific member of the label’s roster from the 60s to the 80s, releasing several albums as a conductor as well as collaborations with artists like Cruz.

He often performed and recorded with a supergroup of artists on the label called the Fania All-Stars. One of the group’s most publicized performances was the 1974 music festival in Zaire which coincided with the fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. In 2005, Pacheco received the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.