The godfather of salsa Johnny Pacheco dies aged 85

Johnny Pacheco, the legendary bandleader who cofounded Fania Records in the 1960s and became one of the leading architects of salsa, has died aged 85, NPR reports. Pacheco found success recording with his band Pacheco y Su Charanga, and also sparked a musical revolution when, in 1964, he met Jerry Masucci and together, they founded Fania Records. Fania soon became known as the Latin Motown, home to superstars like Celia Cruz, Cheo Feliciano and Héctor Lavoe, and the breeding ground for seminal artists in the genre of music that would come to be known as “salsa”, a collision of traditional Cuban song and pan-Latin rhythms with American jazz and funk.