Hector Lavoe & Willie Colon, split brief story on SALSA MAGAZINE (link)
It was a turbulent period for Lavoe feeling that Willie had abandoned him. He had to deal with his deep-rooted insecurities and the hurt he felt from being betrayed by Willie, the man he loved like a brother and the person he most depended on. When quizzed on the subject in a 1980 Latin N.Y. magazine interview, he replied, “I was much too dependent on Willie. I guess he was trying to figure out a way of telling me. I waited for Willie for over two months before cutting La Voz, my first solo album. Willie didnt play on my recordings after that, but he did continue with me as producer. After the success of the La Voz album, Willie told me that I was ready to lead my own band, so I went ahead and did it. At first I was hurt, but I soon realized the split up had its purpose; it was a test! I had to prove that I could go at it alone. Just in case, one day one of us wasnt around. Thank God, we both came out all right. The split actually helped me gain confidence in myself.”
After Lavoe formed his own Conjunto, he continued to follow his quest to be known the world over. Since then, he has traveled around the world with his Conjunto as well as with the Fania All-Stars. He has performed in some of the most prestigious concert halls featuring Salsa, as well as Jazz events like the Newport Jazz Festival. His recordings have also garnered him many awards and gold albums.
SALSA MAGAZINE link (full story)
Listen Recovery 
September 29, 2010 at 10:41 pm
I grew up listening to Hector Lavoe’s music n since then have been a devoted fan. When he passed, it hurt me as if someone close to had passed. I’ve collected his music thru the yrs and when I found out about the movie “EL CANTANTE” starring Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, I was very excited to know that finally his story was going to be on the big screen. I saw the movie and already both Marc and Jen did a great job. I felt it was missing something and after reading so much about his life and watching documentaries, I realized what the movie was missing was a more incite of Hectors life n who he was a person. “EL CANTANTE” focused more on his life with Nilda “Puchi” Roman his wife, their relationship and his drug use then anything else. I feel this story was told based on just her side of the story, without interviewing other people that played huge roles in Hectors life. Finally I hear about another movie “THE SINGER” by Anthony Falton and recently saw some trailers about the film. It looks interesting because it seems to show more of what Hector life was and gives you a better incite of his life. The movie was scheduled to come out sometime in 2008, but I’ve searched everywhere and can’t find it. Does anything know where this movie can be purchased. I think it went straight to DVD, but I’ve checked amazon n all over the internet n although its mentioned on websites and the trailers are available for view on you tube, there’s no information on where this video can be purchased. If anybody knows, please post the information here. Thank you!!
November 11, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Hi Ms. S. Say
I’m searching for a bunch of photos of Hector for a collage for a dominio table when I ran into the other story of Hector. It was stopped due to going over the spending limit. Just google Hector Lavoe and you’ll find it. After reading that I was sad another movie would be great, but bottom line his life was rough very rough but he still continued with producing beautiful music, just goes to show life is in the heart not on the outside.