10 Iconic Latino Music Artists to Add To Your Next Playlist

La Lupe

In case you aren’t familiar, we’d like to introduce you to Lupe Yoli, aka La Lupe, aka the Queen of Latin Soul. She was born in the late 1930s in Cuba. She recorded music, headlined nightclubs, and had amassed a large gay following by the early 1960s. She became a target of Fidel Castro’s regime and was exiled from her native Cuba to Mexico in 1962. Her star shone brighter when she made her way to New York City and met her idol Celia Cruz. La Lupe continued performing in her signature style: she moved with the music across the stage and she would writhe, shout, and tear at her clothes passionately as she sang boleros, guarachas, and jazz hits.

In New York she also connected with Afro-Cuban percussionist, and pachanga and boogaloo music pioneer Mongo Santamaria. La Lupe made music with the Mambo Kings, including Tito Puente, and recorded legendary performances of international hits like “Fever” in English and Spanish. In 1971 La Lupe cemented her icon status when she recorded a Spanish language version of “My Way,” called “Como Acostumbro.” La Lupe remains an icon in music history and she is remembered as a soul music pioneer who poured all of herself into her performances.

Start listening to La Lupe and you won't stop. Lucky you.

Linda Ronstadt

If her music isn't already in rotation in your speakers, then catch up! Whether you are reminiscing about Fievel, or want to rock with the Stone Ponies, or need to feel Trio's harmonies pull your heart strings, add some Ms. Ronstadt to your playlist.

Linda Ronstadt made music history when she released “Canciones de Mi Padre” in 1987. At the time, Ronstadt had already dominated the rock scene, the country scene, and the all the good-music-worth-listening-to scene. She demonstrated how someone could show all the different parts of themselves with pride when she put her Mexican heritage on display and recorded the Spanish-language mariachi album. If she was ever considered a mere pop singer, her ear for good songs across rock, pop, country, and folk dispelled that notion. Her ability to move in and out of genres, to work with the best artists in the business, to pour lyrics directly into our hearts when she sang, and to insist on making music that represented all of her culture is why we love her. Oh, and that album of traditional Mexican songs, "Canciones de Mi Padre," went double platinum, selling over 2.5 million copies and won a Grammy Award. It remains the top selling non-English language album in U.S. history.

In this 2020 tribute concert from Southland Sessions, Ronstadt's hits are sung by artists she influenced, including La Marisoul and Aida Cuevas.

Tito Puente

Latin music legend Tito Puente (April 20, 1923 - May 31, 2000) was born in New York City, and spent most of his childhood in Spanish Harlem. Drumming lessons in his youth helped shape his career and he grew up to become not only a world-renowned percussionist, but also a bandleader, a U.S. military veteran, a music producer, a songwriter, a Julliard graduate, and Rey del Timbal, among many other titles he held.

From the time he formed his first band in 1948 to his death in 2000, Puente made audiences dance with him to the beat of his timbales. Puente was part of a wave of Latino musical pioneers beginning in the 1940s that transformed Latin music and helped popularize salsa and mambo, both styles that are rooted in Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican sounds. Puente recorded iconic songs like Oye Como Va (a cha cha cha) and La Guarachera (a mambo with Celia Cruz.) In fact, Puente improved every genre in which he recorded because he put percussion at the center of every ensemble. His influence on Latin music is unparalleled and we can listen to his great talents across jazz, salsa, and pop recordings.

Juan Gabriel

Juan Gabriel (1950-2016) felt like all things to all people at times. An artist who sang about duality with such authenticity that he connected with anyone who felt they had to bridge worlds.  An LGBTQ icon who never hid his true self even when people judged him harshly for it. A songwriter who put heartbreak and loss into words that profoundly described grief and never ending love. A performer who represented the great spirit, sounds, and pride of the people who live along the U.S.-Mexico border.

When Juan Gabriel died in 2016, he left behind an incredible legacy and discography. He sang traditional rancheras with as much energy and honest emotion as he sang the pop songs and ballads he wrote himself. In his lifetime he sold over 40 million records worldwide and wrote over 2,000 songs. Known as El Divo of Juarez, he wrote some of the most iconic Latin American songs, like Amor Eterno, the song he wrote after the death of his mother.

In this special from Only in El Paso, local PBS stations KCOS and KTTZ look back at Juan Gabriel and how he touched the heart of El Paso's Mexican American community in particular.

Celia Cruz

Celia Cruz was born in Havana, Cuba in 1925, where she studied to be a teacher. Cruz sang for radio stations to earn money during her schooling and she later became the lead singer of the country’s most popular orchestra, La Sonora Matancera. After she moved to the U.S. in 1961, Cruz connected with salsa musicians and musical innovators and put her own stamp on the music scene with her energy and unique voice. Her sound was rooted in the Yoruba music she grew up with and her on-stage personality imparted a knowingness about overcoming life’s challenges to any song lyrics.

When she passed away in 2003, she had recorded over 80 albums, earned 23 gold records, won five Grammy awards, and received the president’s National Medal of Arts. Celia Cruz was one of the greatest performers of the 20th century, famous for interjecting a lively “Azucar!” as she sang, and the undisputed “Queen of Salsa.” She’ll soon make history again when she’ll be featured on the U.S. quarter, making her the first Afro-Latina to appear on the coin.

Put on any one of her songs and get moving. Your feet will move, your hips start, your whole spirit bops when Celia Cruz is basically giving you all the life advice you'll ever need.

La India

Close your eyes and travel through time to the late 1900s with me. Seriously though, It's 1997 and an anthem for our time has been gifted to us. La India's "Mi Mayor Venganza" is a breakup song upon first listen. Then you pick yourself up off the floor and play it again. Now you realize it's not about an ending, but it's about rising up from a moment when someone else thought they had power over you. The song is about taking out the trash, metaphorically speaking.

Linda Viera Caballero aka La India, was born in Puerto Rico and raised in the Bronx. The Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter began her career in salsa when legendary pianist and composer Eddie Palmieri heard her and invited her to sing with his band. Since the early 1990s, La India has been singing what's on our hearts. She has even been bestowed a royal title, and you know those don't just show up at your door. The Queen of Salsa herself, Celia Cruz, gave La India the title of "Princess of Salsa."

Pro tip: play La India when you're about to clean your house. It'll be the most thorough cleaning ever.

Paquito D'Rivera

Saxophonist and clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera is a living legend. He has been performing since childhood, notably at age 10 in his native Havana, Cuba with the National Theater Orchestra. He's 75 now and has recorded more than 30 solo albums, earned Grammy awards in various genres, and performed all over the world with his orchestras and ensembles.

Throughout his prolific career, D'Rivera has composed and performed jazz, classical, and rock fusion. His first Grammy was for an album with the groundbreaking Cuban band Irakere. The group, founded by pianist Chucho Valdes, created music that combined Afro-Cuban jazz, rock, and pop. He released his first two solo albums shortly after and he hasn't stopped innovating in music, whether as a bandleader or a composer. Fun fact: he was the first artist to receive a Latin Grammy in both classical and Latin Jazz categories.

Add D'Rivera's music to your day for an instant improvement in your mood.

Chunky Sanchez

When you think of the folk and protest songs of the 1960s, are the lyrics in Spanish? When you think of the farmworkers rights movement, do you think of musicians alongside picketing laborers? Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez (1951-2016) wrote protest songs with lyrics in English and Spanish and played his guitar alongside Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and countless other labor rights activists. Sanchez’s parents were farmworkers and he was born in Blythe, California, where he learned to play traditional Mexican music from family members. As the farmworkers rights movement gained strength in the mid 1960s, Sanchez, who had also worked in the fields, joined picket lines with his guitar in tow. Music served as a vital tool in the fight for justice and Sanchez quickly became Cesar Chavez’s favorite musician during the years leading up to the formation of the United Farm Workers union.

Sanchez continued his activism as a student at San Diego State University, where he worked to preserve an area in San Diego known as Chicano Park. Among the many songs he wrote was “Chicano Park Samba” which told the story of how the community came together to create the park. Sanchez became known as the “Troubadour of the Barrio” as his dedication to social justice was a lifelong pursuit. Through recordings with his band Los Alacranes Mojados and like-minded artists like Joan Baez, his messages of social justice and pride in one’s heritage remain as powerful and inspiring for young Latinos as ever.

We highly recommend learning more about Chunky Sanchez in Paul Espinosa's documentary Singing Our Way to Freedom. The film is available to stream in Passport. You can also learn a little more about him in this archival interview from his local PBS station KPBS in San Diego.

Ivy Queen

You need more reggaeton music in your life. It's good for you. The academic journal Neuroscience published a study that shows reggaeton music activates more parts of your brain than other types of music. Clearly then, Ivy Queen is a must-add to your next playlist.

Long before reggaeton music was coming through seemingly everyone's speakers, Ivy Queen was writing lyrics and performing in the Puerto Rico's underground rap scene. She was the only woman at the time, and remained the only woman for years in the emerging reggaeton genre. She was already known as the Queen of Reggaeton when she wrote and recorded the club anthem "Yo Quiero Bailar" in 2003. That smash hit single was part of a wave of music that helped reggaeton go global.

Ivy Queen is called by many names: La Caballota, La Diva, La Gata, but she was born Martha Ivelisse Pesante on March 4, 1972, in Puerto Rico and raised in New York City. She continues to make music and use her powerful voice to uplift and empower women. Her powerful voice and lyrical style has influenced contemporary artists like Karol G, Bad Bunny, and Cardi B. She spoke about the importance of being first and helping those who come next during the 2021 Hispanic Heritage Awards. We are here for the Queen of Reggaeton.

Los Lobos

Los Lobos have been blending rock, blues, and Spanish language folk music for 50 years. The band has blazed their own trail by putting their Mexican American roots at the center of their signature sound and that sound is so good.

Los Lobos had already received a Grammy Award and released a critically acclaimed major-label album when they recorded Ritchie Valens' songs for the 1987 biopic "La Bamba" and became household names. The movie's title was that of was an old Mexican folk song that Valens recorded in rock and roll style, making it a Top 40 hit and basically reinventing the classic in 1958. Then Los Lobos recorded "La Bamba" nearly 30 years after Valens did and introduced the song to a whole new generation of audiences. The band continues to perform and they have never lost their connection to East L.A. or their heritage. Last year, they performed a special concert in The Caverns in Grundy County, Tennessee to celebrate Dia de los Muertos. As you can imagine, it was epic and here is a clip.