Trio Los Condes  Originally comprised of two Puerto Ricans and
one Cuban, the Trio Los Condes was formed in 1959 in New York
City and became one the leading exponents of romantic bolero
music in Puerto Rico, Latin America and the United States.  The
trio’s founding members were Fernando Ramos, from Río Grande,
Puerto Rico, on first guitar; Rafael Maldonado, from Arecibo,
Puerto Rico, lead vocalist; and Ricardo Blanco, from Havana,
Cuba, as second vocalist and second guitar.  Their first
recording was an LP record on the Gema label in 1960, which
included one of their biggest hit songs: “Querube”, written by
the famous Puerto Rican songwriter, Pedro Flores. That song was
typical of their repertory and helped the Trio gain widespread
fame. Los Condes came into their own in the 1960’s but performe
and recorded as late as the early 1990’s.  A short time later,
in 1963, the Trio survived its first change when Blanco left. He
was replaced by José Luis “Tato” Diaz, from Vega Baja, Puerto
Rico. The next change came s