The Legendary Harvey Averne Visits Ritmo February 8th

Excited to have the legendary Harvey Averne on the Ritmo show on East Village Radio this Sunday 2/8 from 12pm-2pm EST. DJ C-Town and DJ Media Mail will host Harvey and play highlights from his extensive discography.

Harvey Averne (b. 1936, East New York, Brooklyn) is an incredibly influential producer, musician, songwriter, and record label owner. Harvey got his start with his own band Arvito and his Latin Rhythms in the 1950s. By 1966, Harvey was producing records for Fania Records beginning with Ray Barretto’s debut for the label, “Acid” (1968), along with Boogaloo and Salsa recordings by The Latinaires, Ralfi Pagan, and Mark Dimond. Harvey also started his own band The Harvey Averne Dozen, releasing a Latin Soul album for Atlantic Records as well as two releases for Fania. In 1972, Harvey founded Mango Records and signed Eddie Palmieri. After a name change to Coco Records in 1973, Averne released Palmieri’s monumental “Sun of Latin Music”, the first Salsa album to win a Grammy Award in 1975. Palmieri’s controversial follow-up release on Coco, “Unfinished Masterpiece”, won a Grammy the following year as well. Coco Records also released important recordings by Cortijo, Lalo Rodriguez, Orquesta Broadway, Eydie Gormé and Danny Rivera, Charlie Palmieri, The Machito Orchestra, and Jose Fajardo. Since the late 1970s, Harvey was involved with Disco and Hip-Hop label Prism Records, and helped Madonna secure her first record deal.