El cantante

The rise and fall of salsa singer Hector Lavoe (1946-1993), as told from the perspective of his wife Puchi, who looks back from 2002. In the early 1960s, Hector 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 Colon, 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 Hector's does onstage.