Roberto Roena Vázquez (January 16, 1940 – September 23, 2021)[1] was a Puerto Rican salsa music percussionist, orchestra leader, and dancer.

When Roberto was nine years old, his family settled in Santurce, where the brothers continued to refine their mambo and cha-cha-chá routines, delighting their public in talent contests.

Cortijo y Su Combo, mostly made up of Afro–Puerto Ricans, was the first of its kind to succeed in gaining access to the stages where only white artists were performing, within and outside of Puerto Rico.

[3] The Combo’s good fortune ended with the arrest of its star singer, Ismael Rivera, for charges of drug possession.

Eventually Cortijo left for New York in search of new musicians, and after nine months, Roberto, who had stayed in Puerto Rico, decided to join "El Gran Combo" which was then led by pianist Rafael Ithier.

Wanting to establish his own salsa orchestra, Roberto formed “Los Megatones” in 1967, playing Latin Jazz Wednesday nights at a local club.

Mr. Roena took a giant step in the fusion of salsa with jazz, in the 1970s, by joining forces with African superstar (saxophonist) Manu Dibango of "Soul Makossa" fame.

Roberto always considered variety as the key to success, leading him to include in his musical repertoire everything from go-go to the romantic, the same in English as in Spanish.

Roberto Roena and his Apollo Sound’s first album produced hits of great impact like “Tú loco loco y yo tranquilo,” “El escapulario,” and “El sordo.” In fact, it was Apollo Sound who popularized the Bobby Capó classic, “Soñando con Puerto Rico.” Apollo Sound recorded under the label International Records (a subsidiary of Fania) for a decade, in which they harvested successes like “Traición,” “Chotorro,” “Mi Desengaño,” “Fea,” “Marejada feliz,” “Cui cui,” and “El progreso,” among others.

Dying his hair in new colors, playing percussion in his underwear and sporting a harness so he could “fly” around the stage of New York City's Madison Square Garden were some of the tricks that he used to stand out among the other groups in vogue.