Nino Segarra is a singer, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 and musical

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 arranger

Arranger

In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...

.

Early years

Segarra was born in Maricao, Puerto Rico

Maricao, Puerto Rico

Maricao is the second-least populous municipality of Puerto Ricolocated at the western edge of the Cordillera Central. It is a small town set around a small plaza in hilly terrain, north of San Germán, Saban Grande and Yauco; south of Las Marías and Lares, southeast of Mayagüez, and west of Adjuntas...

 into a family of musicians. He was always surrounded by many musical instruments and as a child learned how to play the drums

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

, guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 and cuatro

Cuatro (instrument)

The cuatro is any of several Latin American instruments of the guitar or lute family. The cuatro is smaller than a guitar. Cuatro means four in Spanish, although current instruments may have more than four strings....

. He received his primary and secondary education in his hometown. In 1976, he played the drums and guitar for various local bands, When he was 16 years old, Segarra auditioned for the role of guitar player and was hired by a band called "The Monarc", however a year later he joined another band "Mundo de Ponce" with whom he made his first recording and musical arrangement.

He enrolled at the Inter-American University

Interamerican University of Puerto Rico

The Inter American University of Puerto Rico —or Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico in Spanish, and often referred as "Inter"— is a private university system in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1912 in San German, Puerto Rico. The University has campuses in Aguadilla, Arecibo, Barranquitas,...

 in San Germán, Puerto Rico

San Germán, Puerto Rico

San Germán is a municipality located in the southwestern region of Puerto Rico, south of Mayagüez and Maricao; north of Lajas; east of Hormigueros and Cabo Rojo; and west of Sabana Grande. San Germán is spread over 18 wards and San Germán Pueblo...

, to study composition, musical arrangements and voice. He earned his Bachelor's Degree with a major in music.

Musical arranger and composer

Segarra began making musical arrangements for theater productions and symphony orchestras. By 1988, he had made arrangements for Andy Montañez

Andy Montañez

Andrés Montañez , better known as Andy Montañez, is a salsa singer from Puerto Rico.-Early life:Montañez, like singer Daniel Santos and boxer Ossie Ocasio, is a native of the Tras Talleres area of Santurce San Juan. He is known by the nickname "El Godfather de la Salsa"...

, Marvin Santiago

Marvin Santiago

Marvin Santiago was a Puerto Rican salsa singer who became famous all across Latin America during the 1970s. He was also a part-time comedian on Puerto Rican television. His brother, Billiván Santiago, had some success in Puerto Rico as a plena singer.- Early life :Santiago was born in San Juan...

, Eddie Santiago

Eddie Santiago

Eddie Santiago is a salsa singer from Puerto Rico. At a young age, Eddie demonstrated great love for salsa music...

, Oscar de Leon and many other salsa

Music of Puerto Rico

The music of Puerto Rico has been influenced by the Spanish, African, Taíno Indians, France, and the United States, and has become very popular across the Caribbean and across the globe...

 singers. Segarra also produced and made the musical arrangements for his own songs. Among them Con la Musica por dentro (With Music Inside), El Maestro (The Teacher), Solo por Tí (Only for you), Loco de Amor (Crazy for Love) and Porque te Amo (Because I Love You), which became a number one "hit" in the Hispanic

Hispanic

Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

 community of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Puerto Rico and Latin-America.

Recordings

Amongst some of his recordings are the following:

• Darlo Todo O Nada
• Te Amo Y Me Amas
• Probemos Como Amantes
• Te Deseo
• Me Parece*
• Me Separo De Tu Vida
• Chiquilla
• Ajena
• Mas
• Potpourri "Homenaje A Puerto Rico": Romance Del Campesino / Amanecer Borinca
• Entre La Espada Y La Pared, Entiendeme
• Eres La Unica
• Ha Sido Un Golpe Muy Bajo
• Oh Mama
• Escuchame
• Ven A Mi Lado
• Labios Virginales
• Porque Tu
• Digan Lo Que Digan
• Y Nos Amamos
• Ella Es En Mi Vida
• Con La Puerta Cerrada
• Como Yo Te Ame
• Solo Por Ti
• Me Imagino
• Boleros De Felipe Pirela: Unicamente Tu/Sombras, Me Estas Matando De Mas

On November 10, 1998, Segarra released the album Romantico Salsero, which became a hit. On September 21, 2001, Segarra joined Eddie Santiago, Willie Gonzalez and David Pabon in a salsa concert held in Medellín

Medellín

Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...

, Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

. Segarra and Pabon participated in the first International Cup of Salsa celebrated in Lima

Lima

Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...

, Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, on July 17, 2004. There he sang one of his compositions Vivo por Ella (I live for her), which he dedicated to the late 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"...

. He also toured Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

, Peru and the United States.

Later years

Among those influenced by Nino Segarra was his cousin Eddie Segarra who is the lead vocalist and percussionist of "Kinkajou" a salsa and merengue band whose base of operations is located in Dallas, Texas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

.

See also

• Puerto Rican Songwriters
• List of famous Puerto Ricans

External links

• PR Popular Culture