After a two-year battle with cancer, 67-year-old music legend Ralph Mercado died on Tuesday, March 10th at 4:30PM at Hackensack University Medical Center surrounded by his family. He is survived by his wife Cynthia, his five children, and grandchildren.
Ralph is best known for staging Latin music events worldwide, building a record label, a publishing company, as well as a catalog of award-winning international hits that forever changed the Latin music industry. Born in 1941, Ralph first embarked in the entertainment business as a teenager by serving as president of a neighborhood social club. He produced “waistline parties” were guys were required to pay a penny per inch of their dates’ waistline. His parties then moved to Brooklyn, which was later called the 3 &1 Club. There, he began booking local Latin bands, such as Eddie Palmieri, Richie Ray, and Bobby Cruz, among many others. Soon after, Ralph started Showstoppers, a management company where he promoted James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight & The Pips, The Stylistics, The Chi-lites, and others, starting a salsa/soul music trend.
Upon reaching moderate success, Ralph left behind Brooklyn for Manhattan, where his life would forever be changed by Latin music. He helped to expand the Fania All-Stars, promoted dances at the Cheetah Nightclub, and presented Latin jazz at the Red Garter. Along with Jack Hooke, Tito Puente's longtime manager, they started the Salsa Meets Jazz Series at the Village Gate and the Latin Jazz Jam as part of the JVC Jazz Festival. In 1972, Ralph opened RMM Management where he represented Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barretto, Tito Puente, and Celia Cruz. By 1987, the wildly popular “Latin Tinge” nights at the Palladium on New York's 14th Street were bringing 3,000 salseros to dance every Thursday night. Mercado managed these events until 1992, when he refocused his energies on the creation of a record label, RMM. With over 140 artists signed to RMM Records, the label sold millions of recordings a year, leading to Ralph’s Lifetime Achievement Tribute by Billboard Magazine in 1999. Not only did Ralph presented salsa music in Africa, South America, Asia, and Israel, but he was also one of the first to bring Latin music concerts to prestigious venues, such as Radio City Music Hall, Lincoln Center, and Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Ralph will be dearly missed for successfully bringing awareness to Latin music and its thriving community.
There will be a public viewing at Riverside Memorial Chapel in New York City on Thursday, March 12. For more information, visit the chapel’s site.
