Eddie Palmieri dead: Eight-time Grammy award-winning legend dies

Award-winning keyboardist Eddie Palmieri has died aged 88. His death has been confirmed by his daughter, who revealed he died following an "extended illness".

The musician, who was a trailblazer in the rumba and Latin jazz genres, enjoyed a illustrious career which spanned 70 years and saw him win eight Grammy Awards.

Eddie died at his home in New Jersey on Wednesday. He became the first Latino to win a Grammy Award in 1975 and went on to have an impressive career.

The musician was dubbed the "Madman of Salsa". Eddie saw his career reach new heights in the 1980s when he was regarded as a global ambassador for Latin Jazz, having toured the world.

The albums Palo pa’ rumba (1984) and Solito (1985) won the musician two more Grammy Awards as Eddie, from New York City, pioneered the genres.

Founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive, he continued to make music and entertain into his 80s, and determinedly performed through the coronavirus pandemic via livestreams.

In a 2011 interview, when asked if he had anything important left to do, the humble star responded: "Learning to play the piano well. ... Being a piano player is one thing. Being a pianist is another."

Fania Records also confirmed Eddie's death as they described the pianist, composer and bandleader as a music legend. Recalling his early days, the agent said Eddie learned to play both the piano and the timbale drums in his teens.

In 2002, Yale University awarded Eddie the Chubb Fellowship Award, an award usually reserved for international heads of state, in recognition of his work in building communities through music.

As a musical ambassador, he brought salsa and Latin jazz to places as far afield as North Africa, Australia, Asia and Europe, among others.

The Sun of Latin Music - the 1975 album for which he won his first Grammy - remains a salsa classic. The album Eddie Palmieri & Friends in Concert, Live at the University of Puerto Rico is still considered by many fans to be a salsa gem.

Decades later, the musician remained popular and was praised for the album Masterpiece in 2000, which teamed him with the legendary Tito Puente, who died months later.

Masterpiece was a hit with critics and won two Grammy Awards. The album was also chosen as the most outstanding production of the year by the National Foundation for Popular Culture of Puerto Rico.

His unconventional approach to music surprised critics and fans with the release of Harlem River Drive, in which he fused Black and Latin styles to produce a sound that encompassed elements of salsa, funk, soul and jazz.

Throughout his career, Eddie worked with the likes of timbalero Nicky Marrero, bassist Israel “Cachao” López, trumpeter Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros, trombonist Lewis Khan and Puerto Rican bassist Bobby Valentín.

In 2010, he revealed he was feeling lonely musically due to the deaths of many of the rumberos he had played with.

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