Bandleader, percussionist, composer. Born Ernest Anthony Puente Jr., on April 20, 1923 (some sources say 1920), in New York City. The son of Puerto Rican immigrants, Puente grew up in the Spanish Harlem section of Manhattan. His mother called him Ernestito, or “Little Ernest”; the name was soon shortened to Tito. He began studying piano when he was seven years old, then moved on to drums and later timbales. While still a young boy, Puente performed publicly with a local band, Los Happy Boys; by age 13 he was regarded as a musical prodigy by his family, friends, and bandmates. After dropping out of high school at 16 to become a professional musician, Puente joined a band called Noro Morales and the Machito Orchestra.

In 1942, Puente was drafted into the United States Navy. He served in a number of battles during World War II and received a Presidential Commendation. Upon his return home in 1945, Puente entered the Juilliard School of Music in New York. For the next two years, he studied conducting, orchestration, and musical theory on the G.I. Bill, completing his formal musical education in 1947. The next year, Puente formed his own group, the Piccadilly Boys, which soon became known as the Tito Puente Orchestra.

With his innovative and highly danceable blend of Latin rhythms and big band jazz, Puente found success quickly. He recorded his first hit, “Albaniquito,” for Tico Records in 1949. Later that same year, Puente signed with RCA Victor and released a second hit single, “Ran Kan Kan.”

During the 1950s, New York's Palladium Ballroom served as the central headquarters for the “mambo” craze, and Puente and his band were one of the Palladium's leading attractions. With hits like “Barbaratiri,” “El Rey del Timbai,” “Mambo La Roca,” “Mambo Tipico,” “Mambo Diablo,” and “Mambo Gallego,” Puente soon became known as El Rey, or “the King,” of Latin music. His influence only increased in the late 1950s, with the increasing popularity of a new brand of Cuban dance rhythms, or “cha-cha-cha,” as well as mambo.

Puente also benefited from much collaboration with other musicians, including jazz greats like Buddy Morrow and Woody Herman and vocalists such as Celia Cruz. In 1963, he recorded the hit song “Oye Como Va,” which became a modern classic and a huge crossover hit for Santana, the equally innovative Latin-rock band led by guitarist Carlos Santana, in the early 1970s.

From 1949 through the 1990s, the indefatigable Puente regularly played up to 300 shows a year. He recorded over 100 albums over the course of his career—his 100th, simply titled Mambo King, the 100th LP, was released in 1992, when Puente was 68. Out of a total of ten nominations, he won five Grammy Awards, including one in 2000 for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Performance for Mambo Birdland. His other Grammy-winning albums were A Tribute to Benny More (1979), On Broadway (1983), Mambo Diablo (1985), and Goze Mi Timbal (1989).

In the 1980s, Puente founded the Tito Puente Scholarship Foundation in order to benefit musically talented children. Puente has appeared as himself in several films, most notably The Mambo Kings (1992), based on Oscar Hijuelos' Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel about the mambo world in New York City during the 1950s.

Puente's first marriage ended in divorce and produced one son. He and his second wife, Margaret, had two other children. Puente died on May 31, 2000, after undergoing surgery for heart problems. He was 77 years old.