Biography

Luis Ernesto Quintero Vegas, known as Luisito Quintero, was born in the populous Caracas, Venezuela neighborhood of San Agustin on August 24, 1967. Quintero, a child music prodigy, hails from a lineage of distinguished musicians and singers. His father, Luis Quintero Sr., a respected percussionist in his native country, tutored and encouraged his son to play timbales at a young age. Quintero's first steps into the professional music arena were performing in the group "The New Generation” playing the bongos and timbales at only eight years old. This group was inspired by his father and his uncles, Carlos “Nene”, Ricardo, y Jesus “Chu” Quintero. At the age of twelve, he played with one of the most popular bands at that time, "El Trabuco Venezolano". A year later he joined world-renowned Salsa singer, Oscar D’León. He remained with D'León for more than a decade until his departure to New York City in 1992. He has participated in over 700 musical productions spanning a variety of music genres and between Grammys and Latin Grammys, Quintero has over 60 Grammy Awards to his credit. His most recent Grammys were in 2019 with Chick Corea & The Spanish Heart Band for the Best Latin Jazz Album and in 2018 with Spanish Harlem Orchestra for the Best Tropical Latin Album. In August 2020 Quintero released the second production of his Grammy-nominated band (co-founded with his cousin percussionist Roberto Quintero), Quintero's Salsa Project, "Tributo A La Dimensión Latina".