Tuesday, August 18, 1998

Ruiz, an international star who was born in Paterson 40 years ago and began his musical career there in the early Sixties as a child, died in Newark on Aug. 9 after a long battle with drugs and alcohol. He was buried in Memorial Park in Fair Lawn.

Cars decorated with the Puerto Rican flag and pictures of Ruiz lined Michigan Avenue in front of the Minchin Funeral Home and trailed the body on its 15-minute journey to the cemetery, where Ruiz had asked to be buried next to his brother, who died two years ago.

At both the funeral on Monday and a gathering on Sunday night in front of the funeral home, fans recalled an entertainer who touched their lives with his music, yet never lost touch with his roots. Even when his records sold millions of copies, Ruiz would still return to Paterson and perform in neighborhood parks.

"Fame never changed him or who he was," said Carmen Pagan, a friend and Paterson resident for more than 30 years.

"If anyone ever needed anything he gave it to them," said Daniel Perez, an aspiring salsa singer who was friends with Ruiz's brother. "He is my idol. He's taught me a lot about music."

Ruiz was known for his daring lyrics and captivating rhythms, pulsing with an assortment of percussion instruments.

He began his musical career at the age of 5 in Paterson, playing drums and singing in local theaters, where he won several competitions.

Elba Cortes, whose mother was Ruiz's baby sitter, remembers growing up with Ruiz, and paying him a quarter to hear him sing. Carmin Gregory, another baby sitter, also remembers his precocious talent.

"I couldn't leave a mop, broom, or even cans around because he would use my mops and brooms as microphones and the cracker cans as his congas," she said. "I remember asking him, 'What are you doing?'
" 'I am singing, leave me alone,' he would tell me."

But it was while he was living with his grandmother in Puerto Rico that Ruiz's career began to flourish. He became popular with the salsa band Olivencia, then set out on his own.

His mother's death inspired his first big hit, "La Rueda" -- "The Wheel" -- and his career soared in 1979 as he sang what was known as salsa erotica. His first album, "Solista . . . pero no Solo," -- "Soloist, but not alone" -- included three songs that reached No. 1 on the Billboard salsa charts.

"Frankie was born and raised here," Luis Calo, a friend of Ruiz, said Sunday night. "Today he is not here, but through his music he will always live on."

Calo and other fans and friends waited outside the funeral home on Sunday, hoping to pay their respects, but Ruiz's body arrived late from Puerto Rico. Admirers clutched photos and plaques of Ruiz, or wore T-shirts with his picture. Other pictures were plastered on the windows across the street. Cars rolling down Michigan Avenue blasted Ruiz's music.

The scene was repeated Monday. After Father Javier from St. George's Roman Catholic Church in Paterson offered his final prayers in Spanish, the crowd yelled, "Que viva, Frankie siempre" -- Live on Frankie, always.

Then a woman beseeched the crowd to sing the Puerto Rican anthem, and -- as a huge Puerto Rican flag with Ruiz's photo attached swayed in the gray sky -- the crowd complied, and continued singing as flowers, letters, pictures, and flags were all thrown onto the casket.