Profile via TMDB · Courtesy of TMDB
Person · Open Library
- Works
- 3
Top works
- Vida Te Da Sorpresas / Life Is Full of Surprises
- Nothing but the truth
- "Escenas"
via Open Library + Wikidata
Film & TV
Acting · Panama City, Panama
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (born July 16, 1948) is a Panamanian salsa singer, songwriter, lawyer, actor, Latin jazz musician, and politician, performing musically most often in the Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz genres. As songwriter, Blades brought the lyrical sophistication of Central American nueva canción and Cuban nueva trova as well as experimental…
Known for
- Campeón Gabacho2026
- Salsa Lives — Ruben Blades2025
- Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple — Self2024
- Stay Homas. The Band That Shouldn’t Exist — Self - Singer2024
- Nueva York: A Musical History of Latin New York — Self (archive footage)2021
- Red Pill — Rocky2021
- El accidente feliz — Self (Archive Footage)2020
- Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage — Self2019
- Ruben Blades Is Not My Name — Self2018
- John Leguizamo's Latin History for Morons — Self2018
via TMDB
Music · MusicBrainz
- Type
- Person
- Gender
- Male
- Origin
- Panama
- Active from
- 1948
Discography
via MusicBrainz · CC0
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 184,015
- Total plays
- 1,922,045
Tags
Rubén Blades (born July 16, 1948) is a Panamanian salsa singer, songwriter, actor and politician. As songwriter, Blades brought the lyrical sophistication of South American nueva canción and Cuban nueva trova to salsa, creating thinking persons' dance music. He remains wildly popular in that country and much admired throughout Latin America, and he managed to attract 20% of the vote in his failed attempt to win the Panamanian presidency in 1994. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Rub%C3%A9n+Blad
Academic profile · OpenAlex
- Works
- 1
- Cited by
- 0
Research areas
via OpenAlex · CC0
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
- Global incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 371 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021
· 2024 · cited 4,521x
- Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition)
· 2016 · cited 4,417x
- First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole
· 2019 · cited 3,656x
- Transition‐Metal‐Catalyzed Direct Arylation of (Hetero)Arenes by CH Bond Cleavage
· 2009 · cited 2,685x
- Global burden and strength of evidence for 88 risk factors in 204 countries and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021
· 2024 · cited 2,568x
via Crossref · CC0
Quotes
- “The bully got bullied...and that was happening in all levels of society: governments were treating people badly, authorities were not doing what they were supposed to do and people saw in that example, a way of getting even.”
- “I grew up surrounded by all types of music...You have to remember, Panama is a port so I always had contact with all types of music—from the big bands of Count Basie to all the Cuban bands of people like Benny Moré.”
- “I like to think of it as like watching The Godfather...You might have seen it 1,000 times, but when it comes on it makes you stop. Each time you see it, you find something different. That’s what I want people to get from my music.”
- “There's a moment in everybody's life...where you have more past than future, and then you better start organizing your time. So I thought maybe this is the time to do this. I'm not keen on people following me and recording my life and asking personal questions and what-not, but I figured I had to do it.”
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Key facts
- Born
- Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna , ( 1948-07-16 ) 16 July 1948 (age 77) , Panama City , Panama
- Occupations
- Musician singer composer actor activist politician
- Years active
- 1974–present
- Spouse
- Luba Mason ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 2006 )
- Origin
- New York City
- Genres
- Salsa Latin jazz Latin pop world Latin rock Pop rock
- Instruments
- Vocals maracas guitar
- Labels
- Fania Elektra Sony Columbia
- President
- Martín Torrijos
- Website
- www .rubenblades .com
via Wikipedia infobox
~18 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (born 16 July 1948), known professionally as Rubén Blades ( Spanish: [ruˈβem ˈblaðes], but [- ˈblei̯ðs] in Panama and within the family), is a Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in the salsa, and Latin jazz genres. As a songwriter, Blades brought the lyrical sophistication of Central American nueva canción and Cuban nueva trova as well as experimental tempos and politically inspired Son Cubano salsa to his music, creating "thinking persons' (salsa) dance music". Blades has written dozens of hit songs, including "Pedro Navaja" and "El Cantante" (which became Héctor Lavoe's signature song). He has received 21 Grammy Award nominations, winning twelve of them, along with twelve Latin Grammy Awards.
His acting career began in 1983, and has continued, sometimes with several-year breaks to focus on other projects. He has prominent roles in films such as Crossover Dreams (1985), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), The Super (1991), Predator 2 (1990), Color of Night (1994), Safe House (2012), The Counselor (2013) and Hands of Stone (2016), along with three Emmy Award nominations for his performances in The Josephine Baker Story (1991), Crazy from the Heart (1992), and The Maldonado Miracle (2003). He portrayed Daniel Salazar, a main character on the TV series Fear the Walking Dead (2015–2017; 2019–2023).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Rubén Blades” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.