Joe Cuba

Gilberto Miguel Calderón (April 22, 1931 – February 15, 2009), known professionally as Joe Cuba, was an American conga drummer of Puerto Rican descent who was widely regarded as the "Father of Latin Boogaloo". Gilberto Miguel Calderón was born in Harlem, New York, United States. Calderón's parents moved from Puerto Rico to New York City in the late 1920s, and settled in Spanish Harlem, a Latino community located in Manhattan. Calderón was raised in an apartment building, where his father had become the owner of a candy store, located on the ground floor (street level floor). His father had organized a stickball club called the Young Devils. Stickball was the main sport activity of the neighborhood. After Calderón broke a leg he took up playing the conga and continued to practice with the conga between school and his free time. Eventually, he graduated from high school and joined a band. In 1950, when he was 19 years old, he played for Joe Panama and also for a group called La Alfarona X. The group soon disbanded and Calderón enrolled in college to study law. While at college he attended a concert in which Tito Puente performed "Abaniquito".