Juan Morel Campos
Composer
Remembered for his tremendous contributions to the development of the Puerto Rican danza music genre, Campos composed close to six hundred pieces during his brief lifetime.
He began his musical training at age eight and, early in his career, founded a music group called La Banda de Bomberos del Parque de Bombas de Ponce (the Firemen's Band of Ponce). He later headed a danza orchestra known as La Lira Poncena.
His unrequited love for a woman named Mercedes Arias inspired "No Me Toques," "Maldito Amor," and several more of his popular danzas.
Born to Dominican father Manuel Morel Araujo and Venezuelan mother Juana de Dios Campos Collazo, he spent his childhood in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
He and fellow Puerto Rican composer Manuel Tavarez both studied with Gonzalo de J. Nunez.