The son of a Filipino mother and African American father, Latin soul pioneer Joe Bataan grew up among Puerto Ricans in East Harlem, New York. Running with a street gang called the Dragons, he was arrested for auto theft and did several years of prison time, but upon his release in 1965 he turned his energy to music. <br /> <br />His soulful voice and creative arrangements on songs like Subway Joe (1968), recorded on the FANIA record label, appealed to a diverse audience. In the era of the bugalú and Latin soul, he became a leading innovator in the blending of African American and Latin Caribbean styles. <br /> <br />Even after FANIA turned its attention exclusively to salsa music, Bataan continued to promote music that blended diverse styles, founding the Salsoul record label in 1973. His 1979 song, Rap-O-Clap-O, which topped the charts in Europe, was an exuberant mixture of disco beat, Latin percussion, and rap that reflected the intersecting cultural currents of Bataan’s life. <br />Link -- http://americansabor.org/musicians/joe-bataan
