Justo Betancourt

Born on 6 December 1940 in La Marina, Matanzas, Cuba, Betancourt earned recognition as a “singers’ singer” through his lyrical spontaneity and the ease with which he moved between the slowest bolero and the most driving up-tempo numbers. At eleven he joined the small ensemble Cabeza De Perros, a group sponsored by the beer brand whose name it carried. Two years later he became a vocalist with the established Guaguanco Matancero. In 1958 he entered Conjunto Club, appearing on their Fama single “Para Gozar Cubita.” Leaving Cuba in 1964, he spent eight months in Greece before settling in New York, where he spent two years alongside bandleader and timbales player Orlando Marín and contributed to the 1967 Fiesta release Esta En Algo, which reached the Top 10. After a brief fortnight with flautist and bandleader Johnny Pacheco, he joined Sonora Matancera and also lent his voice to ensembles led by Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barretto and Alfonso Salines. Signing with Fania Records in 1968, he issued the debut El Explosivo, yet wider acclaim arrived only with the 1971 Pacheco collaboration Los Dinamicos and the solo album Pa Bravo Yo the following year; the latter’s title track became a massive hit and attained classic status. In 1972 Betancourt relocated to Puerto Rico, quickly emerging as a major figure on the island. There he assembled thirteen young Puerto Rican musicians into the ensemble Borincuba, a name reflecting the union of a Cuban with Borinquen, the original Taino designation for the territory. As lead singer he recorded the two Borincuba albums Distinto Y Diferente in 1977 and Presencia! in 1978. Mounting professional resentment toward a Cuban bandleader thriving in Puerto Rico, compounded by Betancourt’s own volatile temperament, soon created friction. On Con Amor, released in 1978, coro singer Tito Rojas assumed lead vocals while Betancourt directed the ensemble and sang background; Rojas later pursued a solo path, fronting Conjunto Borincano before becoming lead vocalist for Puerto Rican Power on their 1987 and 1989 albums and returning to solo work with the salsa romántica album Sensual, which topped the Farándula chart in April 1990. Apart from a single track on Celia Cruz and Tito Puente’s Homenaje A Beny Moré Vol. 3 in 1985, Betancourt issued no recordings between 1983 and 1989. He re-emerged in 1990 with Regresar on his own RMQ imprint, an album produced, conducted and half-arranged by Eric Figueroa. He has also performed and recorded with the Fania All Stars and contributed coro vocals on numerous sessions.