Junior Candelario

He was born on October 15th, 1955 in the district of Marín Bajo De Patillas, Puerto Rico. He was the son of Bernardo Candelario and Ana I. Simmons. He remained in Puerto Rico until he was 13 years old. In 1968 his family moved to the United States and settled in the city of New Haven, Connecticut, where he began his career as a musician in 1973, playing timpani for an American ensemble. He soon was looking for an opportunity to play Latin music. In 1974 he began the ensemble Jimmy Y Su Tumbao Moderno with his cousin Jimmy Perez (2). Junior Candelario wrote 3 of the songs on their first LP. His musical career also led him to play with Conjunto Cayey, Conjunto De Mero and other musical ensembles from the city of New Haven. He died on February 3rd, 2016 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.