NEW YORK (AP) — Salsa idol Johnny Pacheco, who was a co-founder of Fania Records, Eddie Palmieri’s bandmate and backer of music stars such as Rubén Bladés, Willie Colón and Celia Cruz, has died at age 85. His wife says he died Monday after being hospitalized in New York a few days earlier for pneumonia. Fania Records tweets that the musician was “the man most responsible for the genre of salsa music. He was a visionary and his music will live on eternally.” Singer Marc Anthony is lamenting the loss of Pacheco, calling him “maestro of maestros” and a good friend.
