The International Latin Music Hall of Fame was established in 1999.

In addition to the induction into the Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame

A hall of fame, wall of fame, walk of fame, walk of stars or avenue of stars is a type of attraction established for any field of endeavor to honor individuals of noteworthy achievement in that field...

, the award ceremonies include Special Recognition Awards and Beny Moré Memorial Award

Beny Moré Memorial Award

The Beny Moré Memorial Award is an annual award presented by the International Latin Music Hall of Fame to an individual who has helped to popularize Latin music throughout the world, in honor of the late Cuban artist Benny Moré.-Award winners:...

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1999

The first Induction and Award ceremony was held on April 7, 1999. It honored the following inductess and recipients of the Special Recognition Awards:

1999 inductees

Tito Puente

Tito Puente

Tito Puente, , born Ernesto Antonio Puente, was a Latin jazz and Salsa musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" and "The King of Latin Music"...

, Celia Cruz

Celia Cruz

Celia Cruz was a Cuban-American salsa singer, and was one of the most successful Salsa performers of the 20th century, having earned twenty-three gold albums...

, Eddie Palmieri

Eddie Palmieri

Eddie Palmieri , is a Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican pianist, bandleader and musician, best known for combining jazz piano and instrumental solos with Latin rhythms.-Early years:...

, Johnny Pacheco

Johnny Pacheco

Johnny Pacheco is a Dominican producer, musician, bandleader, and one of the most influential figures in American salsa music.-Early life:...

, Joe Cuba

Joe Cuba

Joe "Sonny" Cuba was a Puerto Rican musician who was considered to be the "Father of Latin Boogaloo".-Early years:...

, Israel "Cachao" López, Johnny Ventura

Johnny Ventura

Juan e Dios Ventura Soriano, better known as Johnny Ventura is a singer and band leader of merengue.- Early History :...

, Orquesta Aragón

Orquesta Aragón

Orquesta Aragón was formed on 30 September 1939, by Orestes Aragón Cantero in Cienfuegos, Cuba. The band originally had the name Ritmica 39, then Ritmica Aragón before settling on its final form. Though they did not create the Cha-cha-cha, they were arguably the best charanga in Cuba during 1950s...

, José Fajardo, Marco Antonio Muñiz

Marco Antonio Muñiz

Marco Antonio Muñiz is a singer from Jalisco, Mexico. Known all over Latin America, Muñiz actually has declared publicly and in most countries he has visited, that Puerto Rico is his second country, and many Puerto Ricans consider him to be an "honorary Puerto Rican"...

, Ray Baretto, Sonora Matancera

Sonora Matancera

La Sonora Matancera is a long-time band. Led by guitarist and vocalist Rogelio Martínez, La Sonora Matancera has been called, by the Guinness Book of World Records, "the group with the longest duration."...

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1999 posthumous inductees

Miguel Faílde

Miguel Faílde

Miguel Faílde Pérez , was a Cuban musician and bandleader. He was the official originator of the danzón, and the founder of the Orquesta Faílde....

, Ignacio Piñeiro

Ignacio Piñeiro

Ignacio Piñeiro Martínez was a black Cuban musician and composer whose career started in rumba, and flowered in the rise of the son. He was one of the most important composers of son music; in total he wrote about 327 numbers, mostly sones.Piñeiro was a brilliant rumbero who worked with musical...

, Rafael Hernández

Rafael Hernández Marín

Rafael Hernández , was one of the most important composers of Puerto Rican popular music during the 20th century.-Early years:...

, Ernesto Lecuona

Ernesto Lecuona

Ernesto Lecuona y Casado was a Cuban composer and pianist of Canarian father and Cuban mother, and worldwide fame. He composed over six hundred pieces, mostly in the Cuban vein, and was a pianist of exceptional quality....

, Arsenio Rodríguez

Arsenio Rodríguez

Arsenio Rodríguez was a Cuban musician who played the tres , reorganized the conjunto and developed the son montuno, and other Afro-Cuban rhythms in the 1940s and 50s...

, Chano Pozo

Chano Pozo

Chano Pozo was a percussionist, singer, dancer and composer who played a major role in the founding of Latin jazz...

, Beny Moré, Perez Prado

Perez Prado

Dámaso Pérez Prado was a Cuban bandleader, musician , and composer. He is often referred to as the 'King of the Mambo'.His orchestra was the most popular in mambo...

, Mario Bauza

Mario Bauza

Mario Bauzá was an important Cuban musician. He was one of the first to introduce Latin music to the United States by bringing Cuban musical styles into the New York jazz scene...

, Machito

Machito

Machito , born as Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, was an influential Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music...

, Tito Rodríguez

Tito Rodriguez

Tito Rodríguez was a popular 1950s and 1960s Puerto Rican singer and bandleader. He is known by many fans as "El Inolvidable" , a moniker based on his most popular interpretation, a song written by composer Julio Gutierrez.-Early years:Rodríguez , born in Santurce, Puerto Rico,...

, Miguelito Valdés

Miguelito Valdés

Miguelito Valdés, born Miguel Ángel Eugenio Lázaro Zacarias Izquierdo Valdés Hernández , also called Mr. Babalú, was a Cuban popular singer of high quality...

, Enrique Jorrín

Enrique Jorrín

Enrique Jorrín was a Cuban composer, violinist and band director. He is famous as the inventor of a style of Cuban dance music called cha-cha-chá.-Biography:...

, Agustín Lara

Agustín Lara

Agustín Lara was a Mexican singer and songwriter.-Biography:Lara was born in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz. Later, the Lara family had to move again to Mexico City, establishing their house in the borough of Coyoacán. After Lara's mother died, Agustín and his siblings lived in a hospice run by their...

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1999 Special Recognition Awards

• record promoter Ralph Mercado
  Ralph Mercado
  Ralph Mercado Jr. was a promoter of Latin American music — Latin Jazz, Latin rock, merengue and salsa — who established a network of businesses that included promoting concerts, managing artists, Radio Mundo Musical a record label the most important in the Latin industry during 1980-1990, film...
  
  
• former Fania
  Fania Records
  Fania Records was a New York based record label founded by Dominican-born composer and bandleader Johnny Pacheco and Italian-American lawyer Jerry Masucci in 1964. The label took its name from an old Cuban song by the singer Reinaldo Bolaño. Fania is known for its promotion of what has become...
  
   president Jerry Masucci
  Jerry Masucci
  Jerry Masucci was a co-founder of Fania Records.-Early life:Masucci was born October 7, 1934, in Brooklyn, to parents Urbano and Elvira Masucci. He had a brother named Alex Masucci...
  
  
• musical director of the East Harlem School of Music Johnny Colon
  Johnny Colon
  Johnny Colon is an American salsa musician, leader of the Johnny Colon Orchestra and founder of the East Harlem Music School, also known as a major contributor to the boogaloo sound of the 1960s....
  
  
• pianist-composer-conductor for the I Love Lucy
  I Love Lucy
  I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
  
  show, Marco Rizo.

2001

The third annual ceremony and concert took place on April 4, 2001 at the Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture, Bronx, New York.

2001 Special Recognition Awards

• Martin Cohen, chairman and founder of Latin Percussion
  Latin Percussion
  Latin Percussion, also known as LP, is a brand of percussion instruments, specializing in ethnic instruments engineered and manufactured to withstand the rigors of use in a drum kit, orchestral percussion section, and similar applications...
  
  for his contribution during nearly 40 years in music industry.