Rubén Blades, in full Rubén Dario Blades, Jr., (born July 16, 1948, Panama City, Panama), Panamanian musician, actor, and political activist who was one of the most successful and influential salsa musicians of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. With his salsa band Seis del Solar he recorded Buscando América, which was named a Top Ten album of 1984. At the height of his popularity, Blades took a break from his musical career to earn a master’s degree (1985) in international law from Harvard University.
In 1987 he won a Grammy Award for his album Escenas, in which Linda Ronstadt joined him in a Spanish duet, and the following year he released his first English-language album, Nothing but the Truth, which featured songs written or cowritten by Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, and Sting. His music echoed such social issues as the Iran-Contra affair and the AIDS crisis. Because of his success and activism, Blades became known as “the Latin Bruce Springsteen.”
In addition to being a musician, Blades was a successful film actor. His first role was in The Last Fight (1983), in which he starred alongside former bandmate Willie Colón. He followed with Crossover Dreams (1985) and received praise for his performances in such films as The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), Disorganized Crime (1989), The Super (1991), and Color of Night (1994). Blades also composed the musical score for the film Q & A (1990).
In 1994 Blades returned to Panama to run for the presidency. As the populist candidate of Papa Egoró (Mother Earth), the party that he had formed during a brief return to Panama in 1991, Blades campaigned with songs and guitar, attracting support from those disillusioned with corrupt politicians. His campaign, however, was underfinanced, and, although Blades proved a popular candidate, some thought that his extended absence from the country had left him out of touch. In the May 8, 1994, elections, he placed third, winning only 17 percent of the vote.
His defeat did nothing to curb his popularity, however, and Blades continued to record as well as act. He appeared in such films as Cradle Will Rock (1999) and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003). His album Tiempos (1999) contains commentary on poverty and governmental corruption in Latin America, and the musically diverse Mundo (2002)
won him the first of numerous Latin Grammy Awards. In 2003 Blades released Una Década, a compilation spanning
10 years of his career.
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