El cuatro de enero/January 4th
¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Tito Rodríguez ("El inolvidable")! (1923-1973) Image from Slacker Radio (www.slacker.com) Noro Morales, who he sings with on this album, was also born on January 4th A popular singer and bandleader from Santurce, Puerto Rico, Rodríguez started singing at the age of 13 with the group of Ladislao Martínez. Shortly after Tito Rodríguez's parents died, when he was still a teenager, he moved to New York City (in 1940) and lived with his brother Johnny, also a musician. There he joined the band of Xavier Cugat ( featured here on January 1st) and then served in the U.S. Army for one year. After the army, he joined the Orchestra of José Curbalo, with whom he was performing one evening at the China Doll Cabaret when he met "a young Japanese chorus girl," Tobi Kei, who would eventually become his wife ( From "Remembering Tito Rodríguez and Willie Bobo," latinjazznet.com ). She was from Bellingham, Washington, in the U.S. In 1947...