Mike Laure born 29 September 1937

Miguel Laure Rubio (September 29, 1937 – November 19, 2000), popularly known by his stage name Mike Laure (pronounced Mikay Lau-rey) or The King of the Tropics, was a Mexican cumbia musician, singer and orchestra leader. 

Born in El Salto, Jalisco Mike always had a special affection for music, because his whole family played an instrument, although never professionally. When he was 8 years old, he was bought his first guitar and later became a good drummer. He learned to play Hawaiian guitar and bass. He began as a rock & roll musician in the late fifties. In 1957 he formed his group Mike Laure & the Comets, as a tribute to Bill Haley & His Comets, and would perform his songs every weekend in the Beer Garden in Chapala. 

Laure, a singer with a very melodious and rhythmic voice, tried to excel in his native state, Jalisco, without fully succeeding. He changed his name to "Mike" when he performed in Laredo, Texas, as a Cha cha chá singer. After having ventured into Rock and roll and then in Twist, and not having the expected success he decided to change to the tropical rhythm, being the Cumbia. In the city of Jalisco he was discovered by executives of the Musart record company, who helped him find his true musical style; thus he changed his rebellious and rock and roll life for tropical music with which he would triumph. 

                                    

In the early 1960s he experimented with a new tropical rhythm, cumbia, and by the early 1960s he was already known in the industry for fusing tropical rhythms with rock and roll. His first hit was the song "Tiburón a la vista". His song "La banda borracha" topped the music popularity charts in Mexico for a few weeks around 1966, where his pieces "Mazatlán" and "Cero 39" would also appear.  His popularity earned him the nickname "The King of the Tropics". 

Laure combined several of the instruments typical of Afro-Caribbean and Colombian orchestras, to achieve, within his tropical themes an innovative mix. Thus, around 1962 and 1963 he used the accordion and clarinet of the Colombian cumbia, the saxophone very common in various folklore of the as well as the Puerto Rican güiro and the conga of the rumba, guaracha and son, combining it with the rock and roll, the electric guitar as accompaniment and requinto, and acoustic drums. This last instrument was part of the definitive seal of Mexican cumbia, as it was the first time that cumbia was performed, creating the basis of the rhythm with the bass drums, toms and cymbals of the drums, a definitive sign characteristic of the tropical groups of the 70s and later of the 90s in technocumbia. 

The result was a fusion of great popularity in tropical music, although he was not the one who introduced cumbia in Mexico, since some recordings of Cumbia had arrived in the country from Colombia years before, however he was the first musician to record a fusion of cumbia in Mexico with Mexican musicians, with the peculiarity that he would also implicitly become one of the fathers of Mexican cumbia, next to the immortal Carmen Rivero. Most of the songs performed by Laure remained at the top of the charts, but especially during the seventies and eighties there was not a single dance in which hits were played in Mike's voice. 

Laure recorded dozens of albums and maintained a hectic schedule of concerts and television appearances, guided by his good-time spirit. Despite a few more hits during the1970s, Mike Laure's popularity had waned by the 1980s. He was debilitated by a 1990 stroke, though he returned to live performance on a limited basis but his health began to deteriorate  so his wife decided to transfer him to Mexico City where he died on February 29, 2000 at the age of 64.

(Edited from Wikipedia, La Jornada & Estroncio90)