A Latin music legend since the mid-1960s, Joe Bataan was at the center of the New York City action as one of the early stars of Fania Records. His seductive combination of doo-wop vocals and boogaloo is one of the era’s defining sounds, though Bataan has never stayed in one groove for long. Born Bataan Nitollano to a Filipino father and African-American mother and raised in Spanish Harlem, he is the father of the Latin soul sound, crooning hits like “Gypsy Woman” and “Ordinary Guy.” Bataan went on to expand the sound in the ’70s with his Ghetto Records releases, co-coining the apt moniker “salsoul,” though he adapted to changing currents at the end of the decade with forays into disco and hip hop (scoring the early rap hit “Rap-O Clap-O” in 1979).

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