From Futuro Media and PRX. It's Latino Usa. I'm Marien No Rosa Today. Puerto Rican singer and songwriter Draco Rossa Robbie Draco Rossa, often known simply as Draco Rossa, burst onto the music scene in the mid nineteen eighties in a boy band you might have heard of, Menuda, was a hugely popular teen group that was known for retiring
their singers at the ripe age of sixteen. When it was time for him to leave Manula, Draco began a prolific songwriting career, including writing hits for his close friend and probably most famous Manula alum, Ricky Martin is the songwriter behind Labida Loca and She Bangs, just to name a few. But Draco has also managed to have a very successful career as a solo artist, very different stylistically
from his pop songwriting. In nineteen ninety six, he released his classic album Lacamundo, which Billboard magazine named as one of the fifty Greatest Latin albums of the past fifty years. Then, in twenty eleven, Draco Rossa's life would take a big turn. He was diagnosed with non Hodgkins lymphoma cancer and while
he beat it. He relapsed in twenty thirteen, but he was declared cancer free a second time in twenty and this experience gave him a new perspective on life, one that influenced his album Monte Sagrado, which would be translated to Sacred Hill. Earlier this year, Draco Rosa released an album titled Reflejos de Loterno, where he reflects on his forty year career, and in July, Draco was awarded the
Latin Grammys' Lifetime Achievement Award. Latino USA sat down with Draco Rosa in twenty eighteen and were happy to bring him back to you today. In his own words, here's Draco Rosa.
My name is Draco Rosa. I'm I mostly consider myself a songwriter. And then I'm it's gotten better at singing. Holloah, I got now. I started music early in a group called Menudo Manudo, the Puerto Rican singing group made up the big well afoul across the United States, becoming something of a phenoma.
Hi we are, he's ricky and he's.
Robbing to singing group that you were in at a certain agent out at a certain age. You know, it's the right thing to do because they gave me a chance to be and I have I would be nice and give somebody else a chance, right, And it was exciting it started. First show was at Radio City Music Hall. I was, I guess the first memory actually quit And I quit not because I was unhappy, you know, touring and getting paid and all that, just because I wanted
to start writing songs. And I wrote my first I thought, my first decent song. I thought I was sixteen. My dad was big on classical music and salsa. That was his thing. My mom was the other side about the Beatles, Stephen Wonder. I grew up listening to the Who, Zeppelin, sly Stone. I'm a consumer of music, right, and then within that those parameters what you've consumed and what you can handle, you make music. Initially I was had the
privilege of meeting Tomas Mugnons. I presented some poetry, some drawings and paintings and some music and he gave me a deal based on that. At this point, you know what, we already had huge hits on the other side of the songwriter, like Levy the logo, and so they were like, well, you know, Draco, this time is going to give us this marketable, sort of pop, mainstream thing, and I said, sure, right, because I just wanted to go record, and I thought maybe at that moment, you know, yeah, I could do
that for myself. But you know what happens is I spent tying myself and I start getting real and I started feeling bad about it. So I wrote him a long letter saying, like, I understand if you want to pull the plug, you know, I'm not probably going to deliver the album that you're expecting. If he writes back, hey, you know you need to be yourself like I'm here for you.
I deliver it.
And I went to see my mom in Florida, and then the bad news came in. You know, everybody hated it the album, and they thought it was strange. Nobody's getting in and they thought it was dark. Those meetings went on for a while and they were going to drop me from the label. There's all this talking.
One day, I'm.
Crushed at home, why, you know, and thinking I did all the right things in my mind. You know, I was myself. I spoke to the guides, you know, I was honest about everything. In the end, they put the record out as I was starting promotion actually ago, everything was canceled. If I show up with you know, Cuban too, African Americans in the Puerto Rican ready to hit my tiegra on live TV. We had all these interviews set up and shows and it was all canceled just like that.
So it was a tough ride up. I'm hanging in there, but a little of a depression and concern about what's going on, not understanding. But I showed up to Columbia to agot Bodeka under my surprise, people were singing yeah. And I remember I showed up devastated by everything that happened pre that show, you know, and then I found this crowd that was singing along. Wow. I think that was a nice turning point, giving me a little strength
to stick with it. It's amazing because you know, twenty one years later, last year, I was at drougot VIDK and it was one hundred and twenty dollars and people singing the.
Songs and let me be that serlessly.
You know, when I look back on some of the recordings, like what was important was the craft trying to build these songs, Like how do you get this to matter to other people other than yourself. There's gooo bab Since day one. One of the things my grandmother was like, you believe in yourself, You stick to your passion and that thing will take care of you.
That was singer and songwriter that I called Rosa. This episode was produce us by Gini Montalbo and Amandel Cantra. It was mixed by Ginni Montalbo. The Latino USA team includes Julia Caruso, Jessica Ellis, Victoria Estrada, Renaldo Leanoz Junior, Stephanie Lebou, Andrea Lopez, Gruzsado, Luis Luna, Loni, mar Marquez, Marta Martinez, Mike Sargent, Nor Saudi and Nancy Trujuillo. Penilee Ramidez is our co executive producer. I'm your co executive producer and host Marino Hosa. Join us again on our
next episode. In the meantime, I'll see you on all of our social media, you know, JNS, Dagram, Dick Dog, Eggs, Lube, See you there, nottyes Bay.
Funding for Latino USA is coverage of a culture of health is made possible in part by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Latino USA is made possible in part by the Heusing Simons Foundation, unlocking knowledge, opportunity, and possibilities. More at hs foundation dot org and Agnes Gunn MHM