Francisco Fellove

Life and career Fellove was born on October 7, 1923, in the neighbourhood of Colón, Havana, Cuba. He started his musical career as a songwriter, primarily of guarachas, but also of boleros such as "Dos caminos", which he wrote for Olga Guillot. Soon, several of his guarachas became very popular, especially "Para que tú lo bailes", "Sea como sea" and "Mango mangué". The latter, which he composed when he was only 17 years old, was recorded by numerous artists including Miguelito Valdés, Machito and his Afro-Cubans featuring Charlie Parker, Celia Cruz with La Sonora Matancera, Tito Puente, and Johnny Pacheco, as well as Fellove himself. Based on the fast tempo of his guarachas, which he termed "chua chua", Fellove developed a scat singing technique together with fellow vocalist Dandy Crawford. In December 1955 he moved to Mexico with fellow filin songwriter José Antonio Méndez and joined the cha-cha-cha group Conjunto Batamba. In 1957, RCA Victor released an LP of Fellove's recordings entitled El Gran Fellove. Fellove continued to record and perform in Mexico, the US and throughout Latin America. He played with Tito Puente and Machito in New York City. In 1979 he released his last album as a leader with his Conjunto Habana featuring Niño Rivera on tres. In 2002 he recorded a cover version of "Walking on the Moon".

Fellove died on February 15, 2013, in Mexico City.

Discography 1957: El Gran Fellove (RCA Victor) 1958: Chua chua con su creador El Gran Fellove, Vol. II (RCA Victor) 1965: Goza mi ritmo (Otra/RCA Victor) 1966: Watusi (Musart) 1973: El que inventó la salsa (Gema) 1977: Salsa con Fellove (Gas); reissued as La escena presenta al Gran Fellove (La Escena) 1979: Fellove (Areito) - with Conjunto Habana