The founder of New York based salsa label RMM, Ralph Mercado, has died at the age of 67 after suffering from cancer for the last two years.
Mercado started his career as a promoter in his teens, when he organised parties and events in his local area before moving on to open his own clubs, where he booked up and coming acts such as Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz. Having become an established concert promoter, in 1972 he formed his own management company, Ralph Mercado Management. He founded the RMM label in 1992 as an extension of that company, and over the years took on more than 140 artists, including the likes of Marc Anthony, Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, and Domingo Quinones. According to reports, pretty much any artist carving out a successful career in tropical music during the seventies, eighties and nineties was in some way connected with Mercado, via his concert, management, film, production, label or publishing operations. He received Billboard's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, and sold RMM to Universal in 2001. Mercado is survived by a wife, five children, and a number of grandchildren.