The Puerto Rican salsa singer Maelo Ruiz is actually a New Yorker by birth,
having moved from the USA to Puerto Rico with his parents at the age of four. He
was born Ismael Ruiz Hernández in 1966 and after growing up in Puerto Rico began
singing when he was a teenager.
His big break came at the age of 19 when band leader Pedro Conga selected him as
the lead vocalist of his ensemble, Pedro Conga and His International Orchestra.
Hernández went on to record four albums with the band and in doing so became a
popular and well-known figure in Puerto Rico. His seven-year tenure with ...