Rubén Blades received the Icon award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards Thursday, Oct 22. The Icon Award recognizes the artist with global musical and commercial longevity. Rubén dedicated the Icon Award, “to all Panamanian artists” and thanked all the orchestras he has played with, including Willie Colón’s, as well as his family and his teachers. “Success never happens on its own; it’s the product of a lot of hard work. There are many people better than me who don’t receive the recognition they deserve. The opportunity I received and the talent of others helped me create and develop my career as a singer, songwriter, and producer,” Blades said.
Rubén Blades is an iconic Panamanian singer, songwriter, actor, lawyer, and politician who became one of the most influential figures in the history of salsa music. Often credited with creating “thinking person’s dance music,” he revolutionized the genre in the 1970s by infusing it with socio-political lyrics, literary storytelling, and Afro-Cuban rhythms. Over his multi-decade career, he has won 12 Grammy Awards and 12 Latin Grammy Awards, while maintaining a parallel career as a Hollywood character actor and an active political figure in his native Panama. Blades moved from Panama to New York City in 1974, where he joined the legendary Fania Records roster.
His partnership with trombonist and producer Willie Colón produced some of the best-selling salsa records in history, most notably the 1978 landmark album Siembra. Unlike traditional party-centric Blades introduced urban narratives, commentary on poverty, and systemic criticism. He is the composer and voice behind timeless classics like “Pedro Navaja” (a gritty, Latin-American reimagining of “Mack the Knife”), “El Cantante” (made famous by Héctor Lavoe), “Amor y Control”, and “Decisiones”. Blades transitioned seamlessly into acting in the early 1980s. He has appeared in dozens of mainstream American television shows and films. He played Daniel Salazar for several seasons in AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead. Notable movie credits include Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), Hands of Stone (2016, chronicling fellow Panamanian icon Roberto Durán), Cradle Will Rock (1999), and The Counselor (2013).
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