El cantante

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• 46   Metascore
• 2006
• 1 hr 46 mins
• Documentary, Drama, Music
• R

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The rise and fall of salsa singer Héctor Lavoe (1946-1993), as told from the perspective of his wife Puchi, who looks back from 2002. In the early 1960s, Héctor arrives in New York from Ponce, Puerto Rico. Success comes quickly. "The more he grew as an artist," Puchi says, "the more he sank as a person." It's a tale of talent--creating salsa with Willie Colón, with the Fania All Stars, and as a soloist--and a story of disintegration fueled by drugs, alcohol, partying, and depression. Puchi's voice, proud and querulous, dominates offstage as Héctor's does onstage.