Gerald "Jerry" Masucci (October 7, 1934 – December 21, 1997) was an American attorney, businessman and was co-founder of

Fania Records Fania Records is a New York–based record label founded by Dominican-born composer and bandleader Johnny Pacheco and his Brooklyn-born Italian-American ex-New York City Police Officer turned lawyer Jerry Masucci in 1964. The label took its nam ...

Biography

Masucci was born in

Brooklyn 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 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

to Italian immigrant parents Urbano and Elvira Masucci. He was a

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

in New York City before attending, and during law school. In 1960, he graduated from

New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private law school in Tribeca, New York City. NYLS has a full-time day program and a part-time evening program. NYLS's faculty includes 54 full-time and 59 adjunct professors. Notable faculty members include E ...

as a

juris doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

. He then worked for a public relations firm in Cuba, where he became interested in Latin music. In 1964 in New York City, Masucci, then a divorce attorney, and

Johnny Pacheco Juan Pablo Knipping Pacheco (25 March 1935 – 15 February 2021), known as Johnny Pacheco, was a Dominican musician, arranger, composer, bandleader, and record producer who in the 1970s became one of the leading exponents of salsa as well in t ...

, a Dominican musician, established Fania Records. They started out selling records out of the trunk of cars on the streets of

Spanish Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fif ...

, signing up young artists, creating new sounds, and eventually having hit records. Over the next 15 years, Fania Records helped define the sound, culture, and language associated with the salsa genre, a musical movement that arose partly from the unavailability in the United States of music produced in Cuba. In 1980, he was running Fame, a modeling agency. Masucci died of

aortic aneurysm An aortic aneurysm is an enlargement (dilatation) of the aorta to greater than 1.5 times normal size. They usually cause no symptoms except when ruptured. Occasionally, there may be abdominal, back, or leg pain. The prevalence of abdominal aortic ...

caused by a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

on December 21, 1997 at age 63. It was reported that he had three daughters, Darlene, Misty and Corinne.

Discography

Studio albums

*''A Tribute to Tito Rodríguez'' (Fania, 1976) *''Latin Connection'' (Fania, 1981) *''Social Change'' (Fania, 1981) *''Guasasa'' (Fania, 1989) *''Ray Barretto ACID (Fania 1968)

Live albums

*''Live at the Red Garter, Vol. 1'' (Fania, 1968) *''Live at the Red Garter, Vol. 2'' (Fania, 1969) *''Live at the Cheetah, Vol. 1'' (Fania, 1972) *''Live at the Cheetah, Vol. 2'' (Fania, 1972) *''Live at the Cheetah, Vol. 2'' (Fania, 1973) *''Latin-Soul-Rock'' (Fania, 1974) *''Fania All-Stars'' (Island, 1975) *''Live in Japan 76'' (Fania, 1976) *''Live at Yankee Stadium, Vol. 1'' (Fania, 1976) *''Live at Yankee Stadium, Vol. 2'' (Fania, 1976) *''Live'' (Fania, 1978) *''Habana Jam'' (Fania, 1979) *''Live in Africa'' (Fania, 1986)

DVDs

*''

Our Latin Thing ''Our Latin Thing'' ( es, Nuestra Cosa Latina) was a 1972 documentary film directed by Leon Gast about the burgeoning Latin music scene in New York City. It focused on a concert put together by the management of Fania Records at Manhattan's Cheeta ...

'' (Fania 1972) *''Salsa'' (Fania, 1974) *''In Africa'' (Fania, 1993) *''Live'' (Fania, 1995)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massucci, Jerry 1934 births 1997 deaths New York Law School alumni People from Brooklyn Fania Records artists Record producers from New York (state) Music promoters New York (state) lawyers American lawyers and judges of Italian descent 20th-century American businesspeople New York City Police Department officers 20th-century American lawyers