Biography
Born on 19 April 1905 in Santiago, Cuba, and passing away on 26 December 1976 in Mexico City, Mexico, Mercerón pursued musical training during his youth. By the early 1930s he was directing a dance ensemble that performed regularly in hotels and nightspots, where his tenor saxophone and clarinet work incorporated Cuban adaptations of jazz idioms then arriving from the United States. Popularity followed, yet he anchored his approach in Cuban traditions and quickly secured a firm foothold in Havana. Beginning in 1941 he made recordings with the Muchachos Pimienta, issuing material both under his own leadership and as an accompanist for established vocalists, drawing from guarachas, sones, boleros and rumbas. In 1946 he disbanded the group in Cuba and moved to Mexico City, where engagements soon materialized. Throughout the late 1940s he collaborated frequently in performance and on disc with Beny Moré; at the close of the decade he returned to Cuba, again joined by Moré for additional sessions. Pacho Alonso and Fernando Alvarez were among the other vocalists who worked with him. Late in the 1950s Mercerón resettled in Mexico, assembled a fresh ensemble, and maintained a prominent role there until his death.
He earned particular recognition for his command of danzon, the propulsive popular style that nourished later Latin genres such as mambo and cha cha cha. His mastery of the form led to the nickname El Emperador del Danzon. Among the pieces he performed and recorded are ‘Florecita’, ‘Amor Perdido’, ‘Te Necesito’, ‘El Que Sabe Sabe’, ‘Sabor De Engaño’, ‘Me Extraña’, ‘A Las Alturas Del Simpson’, ‘El Cadete Constitutional’, ‘El Bombin De Barreto’, ‘Arriba Mi Cuate’ and ‘La Margarita’, the last of which, captured in 1959, achieved widespread success across Latin America.
He earned particular recognition for his command of danzon, the propulsive popular style that nourished later Latin genres such as mambo and cha cha cha. His mastery of the form led to the nickname El Emperador del Danzon. Among the pieces he performed and recorded are ‘Florecita’, ‘Amor Perdido’, ‘Te Necesito’, ‘El Que Sabe Sabe’, ‘Sabor De Engaño’, ‘Me Extraña’, ‘A Las Alturas Del Simpson’, ‘El Cadete Constitutional’, ‘El Bombin De Barreto’, ‘Arriba Mi Cuate’ and ‘La Margarita’, the last of which, captured in 1959, achieved widespread success across Latin America.
Albums
