In 1976, Ruben Blades replaced Héctor Lavoe who had left Willie Colón's band. The Colón and Blades partnership would mark an important shift in salsa music.

"Ray was more interested in Afro-Cuban music and jazz. Willie was more interested with things that had to do with Latin America, and he allowed me to record my songs. It was a wonderful group of people, which I had the privilege to meet and work with."

On his first album with Colón, Metiendo Mano (1977), the songs "Plantación Adentro" by Tite Curet Alonso, and "Pablo Pueblo" by Blades, had a tremendous impact on salsa fans and other musicians for their vision on social issues.

The following record, Siembra (1978), expanded on that musical and social vision. The song "Pedro Navaja" broke records for salsa songs at the time, and is still a favorite. The record sold more than a million copies and topped the charts of most Spanish speaking countries as well as the United States. "Pedro Navaja" made people realize the enormous influence salsa could have as a vehicle for social commentary.

"All of a sudden you had a record that was confronting issues and that was unheard of at the time."

This ground-breaking album was followed by another, the two part Maestra Vida (1980), a musical drama using characters to explore social issues in a very personal way.

In 1982, Blades discovered his talents as an actor. Fania owner Jerry Massucci offered him a role in a low budget movie he was producing entitled "The Last Fight," directed by Fred Williamson.

"I played a boxer who also sang, so we could sell a few records."

Although the film had no impact, it elicited Blades' interest in the film medium and sparked a successful career as an actor.

However, experience as an actor did not derail Blades' singing career nor his identification with Latin music. After six years with Willie Colón, Blades decided it was time to form his own band so he could develop his own musical ideas. His discontent with the business practices of Fania Records prompted Blades to sign with Elektra Records. He formed Seis del Solar, experimenting with new salsa formats. He eliminated the brass section and utilized certain keys closer to rock music. He recorded Buscando America (1984) with the group, which included several memorable songs including the title track,
Buscando America. Rock and jazz journalists around the world began to write about him and his music.

"I wanted to make an urban American album that can be appreciated by any American city dweller and may bring people who haven't identified with salsa a bit closer to us."

After its success, he took some time off to attend Harvard University School of Law, with the long-term goal of returning Panama with the credentials to be taken seriously. He earned a Master's Degree in International Law in 1985.

"I needed something to humble myself, and believe me, that school, which was no picnic, did it."

The documentary "The Return of Ruben Blades" captures his graduation, and his return to performing.

 Escenas (1985) brought him his first Grammy. Next came Agua de Luna (1987); an album of songs inspired by a series of short stories by noted Colombian author, Gabriel García Márquez.

Blades began  exploring rock music in an effort to expand the realm of his music. Working with rock pioneers Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, and Sting, he recorded the English language record Nothing But the Truth (1988) where he contiued using different rhythms from distinct cultural sources and political themes.

"I want people to acknowledge the possibilities of a Latin artist fully - meaning we can do English, too.

Meanwhile, his devotion to his roots continued as Seis del Solar evolved to become Son del Solar, where Blades continued to explore Latin America's social issues through music, adding a brass section to give the songs more speed and movement, and to align the sound to a more typical salsa band. His efforts yielded Antecedente (1988) and another Grammy award.

Foto courtesy of Orosmán de la Guardia, ©2003 rubenblades.com

His film career also continued in 1985, in his second movie "Crossover Dreams." He played a Latin musician trying to introduce himself into the American market, and he also co-wrote the screenplay. It was critically acclaimed and went into general release as a successful independent film.

"I can't say enough for the people of East Harlem. They brought us soup and let us film in their homes in exchange for our painting them. Everybody in the community cooperated. It was a Latin effort done by ourselves to help ourselves."

While it helped him hone his acting skills, his convincing interpretation confused many people about his career goals, and the role is sometimes mistakenly thought to be autobiographical. But offers of roles in important productions started coming, based on the strength of this performance. This prompted Blades to move to California where he gradually acquired a measure of prestige as an actor; appearing in movies with Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg, Jack Nicholson and other Hollywood heavyweights.

His first important film role was in "The Milagro Beanfield War", directed by Robert Redford. It was followed by a leading role in "Dead Man Out", where his portrait of a killer on death row earned him the Cable ACE Best Actor Award for movies produced for cable television.

Other acting credits include: The Two Jakes (1990), Mo' Better Blues (1990), The Super (1991), Crazy From The Heart and "The Josephine Baker Story" (both 1991), both earning him Emmy nominations; "One Man's War" (1991), "A Million to Juan" (1994), "Color of Night" (1994), "Scorpion Spring" (1996), "Chinese Box" (1997), "The Devil's Own" (1997), the Broadway musical "The Capeman" by Paul Simon (1998), "Cradle Will Rock" (1999), "All the Pretty Horses" (2000), the tv series "Gideon's Crossing" (2000), "Assassination Tango" (2002), "Maldonado Miracle" (2003), and "Once Upon A Time in Mexico".

"I started acting by choice, however, when I get involved in something, I try to learn everything there is, and what I learned in Hollywood and television in this country is that you can't sit around and wait for the opportunities to come by.

1991 saw the release of Caminando with Son del Solar, followed by Amor y Control (1992.) This album was dedicated to his mother, who had died the previous year, and also marked the end of his association with Son del Solar. His work continued to prove that salsa music could be a mechanism for social comment and an instrument for change. But he was finally ready to return to Panama, wanting to have a direct effect on the people he had been singing about.

True to his social activism, Ruben Blades ran for president of Panama in 1994, as the founder and head of the Papa Egoró Movement. He ran on a platform of social equity grounded in a sense of ethics and equality between cultural and social groups across all economic classes.

"In order to sustain the integrity of the work, I felt I had to go out there on the streets and try to make political change possible through the political process, not just singing. We proved it could work. We came in third out of 24 parties, with 18% of the vote. I'm a better, less selfish person for it."

In 2000 he was named a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations, and appeared at colleges, meeting with students and speaking against racism.

After his run for president, Blades returned his attention to his music, producing a trilogy of Grammy winning recordings: La Rosa de los Vientos (1996), with Panamanian musicians and composers, which unifies various rhythms and styles in Latin music, as evidenced in the song  La Rosa de los Vientos; Tiempos (1999) with Editus, in which he incorporated elements of contemporary classical music and jazz; and Mundo (2002), also with Editus Ensemble and other artists, fusing Irish, Arabic and Afro-Cuban instruments and rhythms. The song  Estampa reflects his ideas that all music is connected. This album can be considered the magnum opus of his career. The eclectic Mundo won a Grammy for Best World Music, and also won a Latin Grammy for Best Contemporary Tropical Album.

"Racism is absurd and my new record reflects that."

These three very different albums display his genius, originality and depth, musical as well as social -  three exceptional albums befitting of his enormous talents.

In 2003 he experimented with distributing music over the internet through his web site, bypassing record companies, contracts, and marketing. At his website he offered a group of songs by various artists for free download, with payment optional.

As guest artist on the Spanish Harlem Orchestra's second album Across 110th St. he received a seventh Grammy award. He was honored by the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences with its Heroes Award in 2004, and ASCAP honored him with its Founders Award in 2005. Berklee College of Music conferred on him an honorary doctorate in music in 2005.

Blades put his musical and film careers aside, however, and returned to Panama in 2004 to serve as Minister of Tourism, serving his country as he had long hoped to do.

"When I go back to Panama, I'm going to be very happy to be there because I really believe in my country and I know we're going to do good things there. It's not just a romantic dream; we can make things happen there."