MIGUELITO VALDES babalu-aye

Miguelito Valdes became famous with his performance of BABALU-AYE. In this video you will see singing his trade mark. He started singing in the late 20s performing with Sonora Matancera and other Cuban groups of the time. Later on he became the main singer of Orquesta Casino de la Playa. Then he left Cuba in the early 40s to try his luck in New York City. He joined Xavier Cugat Orchestra who was performing at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Then around 1943 he started his solo career traveling wherever he was needed. He went to California with the sponsoring of Xavier Cugat who was really a Spaniard that live his early life in Cuba. Cugat was his sponsor to get an opportunity with Hollywood. Around 1955 he started his declined. Then around the late 60s he was lucky to get another opportunity with his own television show. Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball were his sponsor at this time. His television show lasted around ten years. We cannot pinpoint when and in what city he was born in Cuba. Some people say that he was from Matanzas. We know that he died in 1978, of a heart attack while performing in Bogota, Columbia.