Cano Estremera RIP

The great Puerto Rican sonero Cano Estremera has died of complications related to Cystic Fibrosis on Wednesday, October 28. He was 62 years old. Nicknamed El Dueño Del Soneo, Estremera was known for his rapid fire smooth singing style, his prowness as an sonero (a singer who improvises most or all of his lyrics to songs on stage), his unique sense of humor and who gained notoriety as a fierce competitor in legendary live battles with other soneros on stage. Cano set the record and the standard at fiestas patronales in Puerto Rico since the 1990’s singing up to 130 soneos in a row without repeating a soneo during a single song. That was the year that Estremera proclaimed himself as “El Dueño Del Soneo”. He had a distinctive look since he was an albino who had a charismatic presence on stage that connected with his audience and had a tremendous swing in his delivery..

He started his career as a percussionist in the working class neighborhoods in Puerto Rico. He started his singing career with groups such as Grupo Barrio Latino, Los Pleneros del Quinto Olivo and with the Orquesta Mulenze 76. In 1978, Estremera got his first big break as lead vocalist with famed Fania All Star bassist and bandleader Bobby Valentin. His first song with Valentin “La Boda De Ella” was a huge hit and is considered a Salsa classic. Estremera recorded six records with Valentin and two as a solo artist until he left in 1984 to form his own orchestra. In 1988, Estremera started producing his own records starting with the album “Salvaje“. He was best known for hit songs now known as Salsa classics as “El Muñeco De La Ciudad”, “Manuel Garcia”, “El Toro”, “El Caiman”, “Awilda”, “Viernes Social” among others.

Cano always sang in tune, was known for his brilliant “vocalese” but was considered a difficult personality. Estremera was also a controversial artist who would use his improvisational prowess to personally attack his opponents in singing duels with fellow soneros such as Tony Vega and Domingo Quiñones. In 2004, Estremera was banned in Puerto Rico by the director of National Parks, Samuel Gonzalez for using obscene remarks during a concert. Despite these controversies, Estremera was a highly respected and in-demand vocalist who was part of renowned recordings and concerts by such giants as La Sonora Ponceña, Larry Harlow’s Latin Legends and the late Jose Lugo big band recording “Guasabara”.

Estremera had recurring health problems since he had a lung transplant operation 2 years ago due to his lung fibrosis condition. Cano had plans to make a major comeback at the time that he was hospitalized for a bacterial infection in his lungs two weeks prior to his passing.