He was born in New York City, and he died in New York City. But Tito Puente lived his life as a Puerto Rican who would be appreciated as one of the greatest Hispanic-American musicians of the 20th century. During the 1940s and 1950s, American music experienced some of its most significant changes. The separate worlds of jazz, swing, and Latin music came together to take on new forms and styles, resulting in a music that created a beat and syncopation that brought countless thousands of frenetic fans to the dance floors and night clubs of the Big Apple. Puente led the way in this transition of the American music scene as a songwriter, arranger, big bandleader, and unrivaled musician. He pounded out rhythms on the timbales with an incredible intensity and soul, a combination that won him the hearts of his admirers, those who were drawn in by the ecstatic lure of his style of Afro-Cuban music. In Tito Puente, read about this energetic six-time Grammy Award winner.