Salsa King Bio In Step With Film

By Kevin Howell -- Publishers Weekly, 7/12/2007 11:24:00 AM

Recently, biopics about Johnny Cash and Ray Charles brought customers into bookstores to buy their memoirs. Now St. Martin’s Press is hoping to reap a similar benefit with the Aug. 3 opening of  El Cantante, which tells the life story of Hector Lavoe, who started the salsa movement in 1975 and brought it to the United States.

The film--the first onscreen pairing of Marc Anthony and his wife Jennifer Lopez (who also produced the film)—follows the Salsa King’s descent into drug addition. Because the filmmakers decided to end the film five years before Lavoe’s 1993 death from AIDS, music fans may be turning to Marc Shapiro’s Passion and Pain: The Life of Hector Lavoe (Griffin/St. Martin’s Press) for the more complete story.

Shapiro, who has previously penned music biographies of George Harrison, The Eagles and Carlos Santana, noted in a recent New York Daily News article that the publishing house gave him three months to write the book so it would be ready to tie-in with the release of El Cantante (The Singer).

Advance reviews for the film haven’t been enthusiastic. Variety said it is “a virtual template of every imaginable cliche of the musical biopic, pic suffers from a lack of narrative and character focus.” The Hollywood Reporter noted that director Leon Ichaso “fills his movie with so many chart-busting hits, El Cantante almost feels like a party film. Unfortunately, the music is as irresistible as the tired story of a musician succumbing to substance abuse is resistible.”

Even if the film doesn’t win critical laurels, the high-profile teaming of Lopez and Anthony and the July 24 CD soundtrack release featuring Anthony performing Lavoe’s songs should spark readers's  interested in finding out more about Lavoe’s musical legacy and private life.