Tito Puente, (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), born Ernesto Antonio Puente, was a Latin jazz and salsa musician and composer. The son of native Puerto Ricans, Ernest and Ercilia Puente, living in New York City's Spanish Harlem community, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" (The King of the timbales) and "The King of Latin Music". He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz compositions that helped keep his career going for 50 years. He and his music appear in many films such as The Mambo Kings and Fernando Trueba's Calle 54. He guest starred on several television shows including Sesame Street, The Cosby Show and The Simpsons. Tito Puente was born on April 23, 1923, at Harlem Hospital Center in New York City. His family moved frequently, but he spent the majority of his childhood in the Spanish Harlem area of the city. Puente's father was the foreman at a razorblade factory. As a child, he was described as hyperactive, and after neighbors complained of hearing seven-year-old Puente drumming on pots and window frames, his mother sent him to 25 cent piano lessons. By age 10, he switched to percussion, drawing influence from jazz drummer Gene Krupa.