Eddie Benitez (November 12, 1956 - January 17, 2019) was a Latin Jazz & World Music

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

. Born in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

, his family moved to Europe soon after his birth for his father's work. He was raised in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and the family returned to the U.S. when Benitez was nine and settled in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. Benitez formed his first band at age twelve and began competing and winning local battles of the bands in Brooklyn. It was at one such battle of the bands where he was discovered by an AR person from Fania Records. Soon after the teenage guitarist was signed to Fania records.

Career

Eddil Benitez played his first concert at Marcala la paz Honduras in front of 20,000 fans soon after joining the label in 1976. His performance with his band Nebula and the Fania All Stars marked the beginning of his early rise to fame as a guitarist. His first release was ''Nightlife'', which he followed six months later with ''Essence of Life''. He later performed with such stars as Tito Puente and Mongo Santamaría. His musical style began with Latin jazz as part of the Fania family, and would later incorporate

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...

and world music styles. He was the first Latin artist to perform at the legendary New York City punk club

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...

in 1976. Benitez's performing career came to a sudden halt at the age of 23 when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. This changed his life forever; he survived the

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

and took time off to reflect on life and spirituality. Throughout his life Benitez has claimed to have had many spiritual visions, including those that occurred while overcoming a heart attack and an unexplained three-day coma. He returned to performing with a private concert in Phoenix,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

in 2003 and it was there that reports that some in attendance saw mysterious beings, some would claim they were angels, on the stage with Benitez when he performed. That event gave rise to the title of Benitez's book and his tour. One of Benitez's claimed paranormal events was documented and recreated for the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

series '' A Haunting'' – " Casa de los Muertos", which also featured his music, past and present. "Casa de los Muertos" appeared in Season 4 of ''A Haunting'' and continues to air worldwide.

New music

''Lovers Never Say Goodbye'' was released March 10, 2008. ''Lovers'' On Cav distribution. Eddie's 2013 CD "Forbidden Dreams" on his own label "creativeMuzik" ''Visions of Angels''," Benitez's latest CD, was released September 1, 2009 on NuGroove Records.

Death

Eddie Benitez died on January 17, 2019. He was buried at the Green Acres Mortuary & Cemetery in Scottsdale, Arizona.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20171022153115/https://www.eddiebenitez.com/ * http://www.musicofpuertorico.com/en/eddie_benitez.html * http://www.creativemuzik.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Benitez, Eddie 1956 births 2019 deaths Puerto Rican guitarists People from San Juan, Puerto Rico 20th-century American guitarists