# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/ray-barretto
# Generated: 2026-08-13T04:37:08.049Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/ray-barretto"
name: "Ray Barretto"
slug: "ray-barretto"
description: "Raymundo \"Ray\" Barretto Pagán was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Latin jazz. His first hit, \"El Watusi\", was recorded by his Charanga Moderna in 1962, becoming the most successful pachanga song in the United States. In the late 1960s, Barretto became one of the leading exponents of boogaloo and what would later be known as salsa. Nonetheless, many of Barretto's recordings would remain rooted in more traditional genres such as son cubano. A master of the descarga, Barretto was a long-time member of the Fania All-Stars. His success continued into the 1970s with songs such as \"Cocinando\" and \"Indestructible\". His last album for Fania Records, Soy dichoso, was released in 1990. He then formed the New World Spirit jazz ensemble and continued to tour and record until his death in 2006. He is the father of American vocalist and saxophonist Chris Barretto, best known for being the former singer of progressive metal bands Monuments and Periphery."
tagline: "American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican ancestry (1929–2006)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Ray_Barretto.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Musicians"
  slug: "musicians"
profileType:
  name: "Singer / Musician"
  slug: "singer"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q177220"
birthDate: "1929-04-29"
deathDate: "2006-02-17"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           54.08
  momentum:             15
  historical:           16.182772
  currentAttention:     11.04
  sourceConfidence:     65
  profileCompleteness:  75
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
platforms:
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0057334/"
    handle:    "nm0057334"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.discogs.com/artist/19599"
    title: "Discogs"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barretto"
    title: "Ray Barretto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%8A_%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AA%D9%88"
    title: "راي باريتو"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%89_%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AA%D9%88"
    title: "راى باريتو"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barretto"
    title: "Ray Barretto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barretto"
    title: "Ray Barretto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barretto"
    title: "Ray Barretto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barretto"
    title: "Ray Barretto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barretto"
    title: "Ray Barretto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barretto"
    title: "Ray Barretto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barretto"
    title: "Ray Barretto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barretto"
    title: "Ray Barretto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barretto"
    title: "Ray Barretto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barretto"
    title: "Ray Barretto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barretto"
    title: "Ray Barretto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barretto"
    title: "Ray Barretto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%82%D0%BE%2C_%D0%A0%D1%8D%D0%B9"
    title: "Барретто, Рэй"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barretto"
    title: "Ray Barretto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://musicbrainz.org/artist/169153fd-ba80-401a-8ccd-2825efaf9155"
    title: "MusicBrainz"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q740099"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2022325"
    title: "Ray Barretto"
    type:  "DATABASE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump