Biography

Ray Barretto was born on April 29, 1929 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Carlito's Way (1993), Mean Streets (1973) and JFK (1991). He was married to Annette Rivera. He died on February 17, 2006 in Hackensack, New Jersey, USA.

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Jazz musician.

Children: Ray Jr., Raun, Kelly, and Christopher.

Helped define the role of the conga drum in jazz and became an influential figure in both jazz and Latin music during a career spanning more than 50 years.

National Endowment for the Arts gave him its Jazz Masters Award for lifetime achievement. He accepted the award at an induction ceremony in New York on Jan. 13, 2006 and suffered a heart attack two days later. He had quadruple bypass surgery on Jan. 20 and follow up open heart surgery on Jan. 29. He died nineteen days later.