Millie P.: THE UNTOLD STORY

by Nestor Louis

I'm incredibly saddened by the passing of Tito Puente, the single most popular, and if you think about it, the most successful, Tropical music entity to have truly crossed-over worldwide by just being himself. While many of today’s Salsa artists are busy fusing the music to get that broader market appeal, Tito Puente, already had that market for 50 plus years by keeping it real.

His passing was so touching that I made it my duty to show up at the wake. The streets, the sidewalks, and The Riverside Funeral Chapel were packed with media personnel, fans, industry people, and fellow musicians that wanted to pay their respects to wife Margie, sons Ronnie and Tito, Jr., and daughter Audrey. Jose Alberto “El Canario”, Vitin Aviles, Ruben Blades, Hector Casanova, Martin Cohen, Bill Cosby, Jimmy Delgado, Jon Fausty, Cheo Feliciano and wife Coco, Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, India and Luisito Quintero, Blanca Lasalle, Israel Lopez “Cachao”, Ralph Mercado, Pete Miranda, Tito Nieves, Johnny Pacheco, Ismael Quintana, Congressman Charles Rangel Willie Rosario, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Congressman Jose Serrano, Bobby Valentin, and many others were present. Almost all of these personalities made statements to the English and Spanish media reflecting on the legacy left behind by “El Rey”, all offering a temporary farewell and seeking closure. All except one, Millie P…that is until now.

I met Millie P. and her mother at a private location after her arrival from Tampa, Florida. Her sole purpose was to attend the public viewing of her percussion maestro, musical father figure, and cousin Tito Puente. “He was very well loved by all people. So many people out there were close to him and his music. People just loved him. He was so loved, that when people ran into Tito on the street, they talked with him. The masses felt so close to him. He was just very outgoing, very lovable, and very humble towards every human being. After going through some difficulties on the first day of the wake, I got to see Tito on the second day thanks to an angel. God had favored me and granted me the opportunity of seeing him one last time. Now I know he’s at peace.”

Millie P., serenely dressed in a white sweater, baggy blue jeans, and white sandals spoke softly about her relationship with the late Latin bandleader. “He was my cousin. He was my father’s first cousin, and of course that made me his second cousin. But in reality, the way we maintained our relationship, Tito was like a father to me. He looked at me like a daughter. He taught me about Afro-Cuban music, Jazz, Salsa and as a result I was with him for five years on the Latin Jazz circuit. All this after I started to sing ballads. I used to sing ballads, and that got me on Sabado Gigante. Soon thereafter, I learned he was coming to Tampa for a Latin Jazz concert and I decided to show up. I had a hard time getting there, but I made it. As I was watching him on stage, for some reason he was looking at me. He had only seen me when I was a little girl, and not as I matured into womanhood. I was in my late twenties during that time. It’s weird how blood calls, you know. He was looking at me, and playing not looking at me, and then looking at me like saying ‘I know we’re related’. At the end of the concert, I made it back stage and told his right-hand man, the late Jimmy Frisaura, ‘look I want to see Tito. I’m his cousin and I haven’t seen him since I was a little girl. I’m a ballad singer, and I would like to have him hear me sing.’ Tito doesn’t come out. But after persisting and insisting a little bit more, Tito yells out ‘bring her in!’ Jimmy brings me in and I started to remind Tito of who his cousin is. Sure enough he remembered my mom and everything else. To make a long story short, I gave him a demo tape of ballads. He heard it and called me. He asked me, ‘how would you like to sing salsa? How would you feel about that?’ I told him, ‘look I never sang it but I’ve heard it for many years in the house back in New York, the Bronx where I grew up. Cheo Feliciano, Santitos Colón and all those cats.’ I knew what he was talking about so I didn’t mind. I told him, ‘if you teach me then I’ll do it.’ Later he took me to San Francisco. I was nervous. I was shaking like a leaf! I sang “Bamboleo”, and that’s how our relationship started.”

Prior to Millie P.’s introduction to the salsa world as a vocalist, she became Tito’s timbal protégé. She gigged around with Tito’s Latin Jazz Ensemble gaining the necessary experience, playing timbales mano a mano with him on numbers like “Ran Kan Kan” and other descargas. Millie P., although her name and image does not appear on the credits, took part in the 1987 video FAMILIA LATINA, which featured Sheila E., Pete Escovedo, and Tito Puente. Much later, thanks to Giovanni Hidalgo, Millie P.’s passion for percussion went beyond timbales and onto the congas. But what happened? There’s a huge mysterious gap between her days as the novelty act with TP’s Latin Jazz Ensemble and her conga lessons with Giovanni, the RMM days.

“Well, as you know Tito and Ralph were great friends, close friends. I was with Tito for three years and he wanted me to stay in the Latin Jazz ensemble. That was his vision, his goal for me. But Ralph wanted to record me in Salsa.” Produced by Sergio George, under the musical direction of The Mambo King, TITO PUENTE PRESENTS MILLIE P. hit record shops in 1990. And contrary to popular believe it sold more than 60,000 copies. A figure like that was considered above average around that time. The CBS’s, WEA’s, BMG’s, and EMI’s were just starting to look into salsa as a viable source for profits. With the RMM machine backing her, Millie P. ended up with a solid hit, and rightfully so. The record is a very good record, musically, lyrically, and vocally.  Millie’s voice and singing style on this record is very sultry and aggressive. Millie P.’s popularity was furthered when in 1991 she recorded one track in Tito Puente’s 100th LP titled THE MAMBO KING. Success was hers! But suddenly, like a ship caught in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle, she vanished!

“I was booked solid for an entire year in advanced working with Tito. I was constantly working with Tito. I didn’t get a chance to really promote the record. I found myself working with Tito all the time. Doing the playing and the singing for one half of the performance, and he would do the other half. Ralph Mercado found himself constantly calling us, ‘look you gotta promote this record’ whether we were in Japan or Los Angeles. But Tito didn’t want to do that because, like I said before, we were already booked. There was no way to really sink my teeth on my record. In a way it wasn’t a mistake because I was always on the road playing concerts and developing my talent. But it really was. I had a hit record on my hands that I just didn’t promote.” But that was just the beginning of the ten year Millie P. drama.

Questions were raised about the association and relationship between Tito Puente and Millie P. Gossip was flying from all directions. “Millie P. is really not his cousin...she’s really his niece...blah, blah, blah...nah man, I heard she’s la chilla bro.” What started as a family bond, erupted to become one of the biggest scandals of the cuchifrito circuit and the Salsa world in general. Could it be? Is it déja vú again? Tito Puente was once again rumored to have a romantic involvement with his leading female vocalist. “At that time, too many things were happening at once, the touring, my record, lots and lots of things. My personal life was in total disarray. The rumors had started much in the same way they started with La Lupe. I was hurt. I was upset. When it hit the newspapers in Miami, I went to Tito. “Tito mira esto! Viste! They are putting it as if I was your lover! What is this?’ He would tell me, ‘don’t pay attention to that stuff! This is part of the business, and it's something you’re gonna have to deal with.’ He always told me that.  ‘Deal with it! When people see you singing with me, they’re gonna start talking. The bigger you become, the more vicious the rumors become, and it’s a shame that people have to think that way.’ Those rumors hurt me, as well as my career. I had a lot of respect for him. He was a much older man with a wife and a family that was also my family. We were indeed just cousins, and those rumors are simply just not true. I couldn’t take the heat, the pressure, so I backed out from it all. I asked RMM for a release, and that was that. I removed myself from the scene. I took a break from my career, from my life, and found Christ. I became a Christian. Today, I would be able to deal with such things. The this and that’s, you go ahead and believe that. Now my mindset and way of thinking is much clearer and stronger. I trust in God.”

Millie P. has been out of the salsa scene for ten years and even though the monster of these rumors occasionally rears its ugly head, Millie keeps on keeping on singing in church, and playing congas and timbales. She even recorded a Christian record. Avoiding grudges throughout this period of mourning, Millie P. is looking forward to finishing a new record that will feature some of the best talent in Puerto Rico.

The time line continues to move forward. No one can change the past. If anything, we learn from it and the experiences it leaves behind. I asked her, “do you feel you have what it takes?” With a self-assuring confident smile she stated, “with Tito, I learned something really valuable. I learned to be patient. And if I had a chance to do it all over again, I would. Remember, I’m not just a singer. With Tito’s help looking from above, I wouldn’t doubt becoming a bandleader. Tito Puente was a man of integrity, quality, and excellency. Everything he did was as close to perfection as it could humanly be.” There’s nothing wrong with that

*Special thanks to Mr. Gerardo Flores and Mr. Claudio Leottau.