Latin Music Pioneers of Northwest Indiana

October 9, 2026

This month on WFYI, Cultural Manifesto celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with an hour of music featuring Latin music pioneers from Northwest Indiana.

During the 20th century, immigrants from across Latin America came to Indiana, many drawn by jobs in agriculture and industry. In Northwest Indiana, they established deep roots and a vibrant cultural life that produced musicians whose influence reached far beyond the region.

Juan Manuel Guerrero

One of the earliest Northwest Indiana musicians to make his mark on Latin music was vocalist Juan Manuel Guerrero. Born in East Chicago in 1924, Guerrero was the son of Mexican immigrants who came to the region seeking work in the steel industry. During the economic hardships of the Great Depression, however, his family returned to their hometown of San Martín de Hidalgo, in Jalisco, Mexico.

As a young man in the 1940s, Guerrero returned to the United States to pursue music. His talents soon caught the attention of Spanish-born bandleader Xavier Cugat, who hired him as a featured vocalist. During the 1940s and ’50s, Cugat’s orchestra was among the most popular and influential Latin bands in the world.

Guerrero appeared on classic Cugat recordings and later launched a successful solo career, recording the classic 1958 LP Songs of Old Mexico for Columbia Records. He also appeared in Mexican films and toured internationally, sharing the stage with stars including Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole.

Santos Candelaria

By the 1970s, Gary, Indiana, was home to a growing Puerto Rican community, including vocalist and bandleader Santos Candelaria. During the ’70s, Candelaria recorded music through his Gary-based label, Aida Records. His recordings spanned a wide range of Puerto Rican styles, including jíbaro music, a folk tradition rooted in the island’s rural countryside.

His records also reflected the emerging salsa sound of New York’s Fania Records, the groundbreaking label that helped bring Puerto Rican music to audiences around the world.

Candelaria proudly embraced his connection to Gary, emblazoning “Gary, Indiana” across many of his album covers. Although he never achieved mainstream success, his recordings have become sought-after by collectors, with original copies of releases like “Ritmo Tropical” selling for hundreds of dollars.

Adela Dalto

Adela Dalto represents an important Northwest Indiana connection to the international Latin music scene. Born in Texas to Mexican parents in 1953, Dalto grew up in Gary, Indiana, where she was heavily influenced by the city’s jazz and R&B scene.

At 19, she married Argentine-born jazz pianist Jorge Dalto and moved to New York, where she began her professional career as a singer. One of her first major opportunities came when she was hired to sing backup for the iconic Celia Cruz, including a sold-out performance at Madison Square Garden.

Dalto became part of New York’s influential Latin-jazz scene, developing a style that merged jazz, Afro-Cuban rhythms, Brazilian music and R&B. She performed with groundbreaking musicians like Freddie Hubbard, Chucho Valdés, Roy Hargrove, Mario Bauzá and Carlos “Patato” Valdés, while also building an acclaimed solo career and touring across the world.

Omar Apollo

The story of Latin music in Northwest Indiana continues into the present with Omar Apollo, one of the most prominent young artists to emerge from the region. Born in Hobart in 1997 to Mexican immigrant parents, Apollo grew up listening to Mexican music at home while developing an interest in R&B, soul, pop and rock. During my 2024 conversation with Apollo, he told me that, while he found his musical voice in Northwest Indiana, he struggled to fit into the culture.

“People used to ask me, ‘Where are you from?’ And I'm just like, ‘I'm from here.’ And they're like, ‘Nah, where are you really from?’ And I'm like, ‘I’m from here. I was born in Indiana, but my parents are from Jalisco.’ Honestly, there was a lot of racism, especially toward my parents.”

That struggle eventually prompted Apollo to leave Indiana for Los Angeles, where he quickly found success. His 2022 debut album, Ivory, earned him a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, while his 2024 album, God Said No, further established him as a distinctive voice in contemporary pop and R&B.

These stories are an important part of Indiana’s cultural history — and they deserve to be celebrated. This Hispanic Heritage Month, WFYI is helping share that history. With your support, we can continue telling the stories of the people and music that have shaped Indiana.