William Mendoza

William Mendoza, founder and director of The Latin Heartbeat Orchestra, has combined over 50 years of musical performance, experience and a successful foray into the business sector to deliver his finest and most expansive project to date: “El Regreso” The Latin Heartbeat is the realization of a lifelong odyssey of musical pursuits, passion and perseverance dating back to 1970’s NYC.

William was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico and raised in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The amazing diversity of culture and arts that he grew up around helped to fuel what would eventually become his life’s work. William was right in the mix of it all during the birth of the Fania Salsa Movement., learning how to play bass guitar at age 14 and later moving onto Steel Drums where he would discover his “True Love” for percussion. After years of playing the NYC Latin scene with acts such as Latin Rock band: “Malo”, William decided upon a hiatus from the performance arts arena in order to raise a family of his own and focus on further developing his business acumen. However, it was only a matter of time before “the music” would once again come calling, beckoning him back to his passion and paving the way for him to now bring you – “The Latin Heartbeat Orchestra”

In addition William is totally committed and is active in different areas of his community such as mentoring young adults and through his work helping the Senior Community. He works tirelessly helping and consulting with the Puerto Rican Parades.