Sammy Marrero dies at 84 after 40 years with La Selecta
sammy marrero died on Sunday at age 84, ending a career that made his voice inseparable from La Selecta for more than 40 years. His daughter, Jennissa Marrero Morales, announced the death on her social media accounts.
“Con profundo dolor, como familia, queremos informar el fallecimiento de nuestro querido Sammy Marrero hoy, a sus 84 años. Papi fue mucho más que un gran cantante y una voz querida por el público; fue un ser humano excepcional, un padre amoroso, abuelo, familiar y amigo inolvidable. Su pasión por la música y el cariño que siempre recibió de su gente fueron parte fundamental de su vida”
The family said he had been much more than a singer, naming him a father, grandfather, relative and friend. It also did not report a cause of death, even as it said Marrero had been in delicate health in recent months.
La Selecta and 2015
Marrero was the voice of La Selecta from the 1970s until 2015, a run that made him the lead voice of Orquesta La Selecta for 44 consecutive years. He joined after meeting Raphy Leavitt in the 1970s, and his voice carried songs including “Payaso,” “La Cuna Blanca” and “Jíbaro Soy.”
After Leavitt died in 2015, Marrero left the group to begin a solo career. That move closed one long chapter and opened another, but the old repertory remained the public’s clearest record of how central his singing was to the group’s identity.
October 2016 debut
In October 2016, Marrero debuted as a soloist with “Si me caigo me levanto.” His later work also became part of a copyright lawsuit in the Federal Court of Puerto Rico, where the Leavitt family filed a case that included members of his orchestra.
The dispute ended in 2021 after an agreement to pay $50,000 to the Raphy Leavitt succession. Marrero was born on February 16, 1942, in the El Cerro neighborhood of Coamo, later moved with his family to Bayamón, and survived by his wife and four children.
For listeners who knew him through La Selecta, the lasting measure is simple: the singer who carried that sound for decades is gone, and the songs tied to his voice now stand as the record of a 44-year run.
