Daily News from New York, New York • 270

"Hi 7- gvi- nr-H Leisure 13 the Comets, Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers. We man nave TV then, we had radio. It such a powerful medium that you can put it on and make people sing a language they never heard By MARTHA HUME Ruben now looms over salsa the way Ancon Hill looms over Panama City. Growing up in the slum streets of that city, lined with sun-bleached, faded green walls, he met boxer Roberto Duran; if their dreams failed, both faced the same dreary future. But even then, Ruben says, he always felt he would make it, and make it big, at something.

He wasn't sure at first that it would be music. "I sang in English because American music dominated the airwaves at that time. The announcer would go through a long rap in Spanish and then say, 'Y ahora tenemos, rock and roll, Fran-kee Ly mon and The And Ruben begins singing one CHIC After a recording hiatus of nearly 20 years, The Chipmunks, the '50s supergroup that sold four and a half million copies of "The Chipmunk Song" in 1958, are back again. Last year, Alvln, Simon and Theodore tested the water with "Chipunk Punk," a rock and roll album that ended up selling almost a million copies. Obviously; the group had not lost its touch.

Now Alvin, his paws always on the pulse of the national taste, has taken the group to Nashville where the trio recorded its newest album, "Urban Chipmunk." Sparing no expense, the group's mana ger, Ross Bagdasarian, signed up producer Larry Butler (who had a string of hits with Kenny Rogers and Dottle West), as well as guitarist Jerry Reed and Brenda Lee to help out on the album's 10 country tunes, Alvin and the boys took very few chances with material, since every single song on the "Urban Chipmunk" has already been a national hit. Nonetheless, the Chipmunks bring new life to such classics as "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be TV fw" ivru i rr ifr i 5 of their songs. "'Bu-da-bop a da, ba-ba-da, ba-ba-da ba, ahhhhahhhhaaa, I Promise to love you America, however, is not so open to foreign words on the radio. So far, Ruben's immense popularity is concentrated in the country's 20-odd million Hispanic population. He recognizes that the Spanish lyrics are an obstacle to reaching a broader audience.

So, while continuing to play and record with Willie Colon, he plans to put together a new band that will broaden his musical style. But his impulse for the first turn, the initial change from English rock to Spanish salsa, was far different; it sprang from the 1964 killing of Panamanians by U.S. Marines. "We had 21 dead," he says very solemnly, "and 500 wounded for wanting to put the Panamanian flag in the Canal Zone. Something must have snapped in me, because I stopped singing in English.

(Cowboys) Chipmunks" and Willie Nelson's "On The Road Again" which Alvin persists in singing as "Off The Road Again." Actually, the Chipmunks have only one bad cut on the record, a cleaned up In early 1968 he sang on an album with Bush Los Magnificos. One of the biggest Latin producers in New York, Pancho Cristal, heard it and thought that Ruben would be an ideal substitute for Cheo Feliciano, who was then preparing to leave Joe Cuba's band. Ruben signed a contract but stayed in fu CSf Panama to start his law studies at the University. "Man, two months later the students had a con' frontation with the army. That was my first real active political participation.

They closed the Uni versity for a year. So, in 1970, I sent a letter to Pancho Cristal saying that I was going to New York during the school holiday. He hooked up with Pete Rodriguez, and Cristal produced their album, "De Panama a Nueva York, for which Ruben wrote all the material. Though it sold well Internationally, from 1970 until 1974, Ruben didn't cut any more; he returned to the University, eventually graduating with a law degree. He lives and works in New York City now, "not because I wanted a winter, but because this is the Selecter at Bond's rendition of "Coward of the County," which, even sanitized, is not suitable material for the Chipmunks.

WIUJAM LaFOflCEJR. DAILY NEWS Blades: "I lowved the cha-cha-cha, boy." From Sinatra to salsa (Continued from page 20) balcony for "Pedro Navaja, a salsa takeoff on "Mack the Knife" that earned him a Grammy nomination. This is a long way from Panama City, where Ruben was born cn July 16, 1948. He grew up poor with his four brothers and sisters, his father, a bongo player and basketball star turned detective, and his mother, a soprano singer who played piano like Fats Waller. But it was his father's mother who influenced him the most.

She was a vegetarian, Rosacrucian spiritualist, poet, fighter for women's rights, and one of the first women in Panama to receive a high school diploma. She taught Ruben how to read at four, and was explaining Picasso and cubism to him at six. Today, he plays to sell-out Latin crowds at Madison Sqaure Garden and in Coliseum Roberto Clemente in Puerto Rico. But he started out at 15 by crooning a repertoire of Frank Sinatra tunes in a sweet unaccented English that startled the exotica-seeking American tourists. "But, I started with rock and roll, and with cha-cha-cha.

I lowved cha-cha-cha, boy." He breaks into a spontaneous cha-cha vocal, drumming pencils on glasses and vases all across the glass-topped table. "The main thing was rock and roll Bill Haley and center of the music industry." He visits Panama several' times a year, and is looking for a piece of That's just a minor quibble, however, and those land there to build a house near the ocean. people who can bear listening to 10 songs worth of He has already begun to make it big, financially at least compared to other Latin singers. "The falsetto trios that would shame even the Bee Gers will probably like this record. reasons," he says holding up outstretched palms, "have nothing to do with popularity.

For instance, I SONGWRITER DEADLINE Monday, June 15 Is the don't indulge in drugs, or drink alcohol, so a lot of my income doesn't go into that I learned to save deadline for submitting entry applications for the third annual New York Songwriters' Contest. The because I come from a very poor family. And the competition is open to songwriters from New York, money gives me the freedom to sing what I New Jersey and Connecticut, and is limited to the first 1000 entries. The three top writers will receive The new band will be called the Gamboa Road Gang, will experiment with songs in English and French, and combine elements of salsa, rock, West Indian, and other music. "I have been doing salsa," cash prizes and the 10 finalists will get the chance to perform their songs at The Bottom Line on September 22.

For information and application forms, stop by the offices of the American Guild of Authors and Ruben says, "and doing it happily." His eyes shift diagonally up to the ceiling. "But I also want the chance to expand. If we can put together the right Composers at 40 West 57th Street in Manhattan or Uncle Lulu's, 16 West 56th Street. kind of talent it can be really big." IT'S O.K. TO BE UNDER Ift-Next Sunday, Eng land's Selecter, the skarockreggae band, will per CYNTHIA RAYMOND Why has gospel music become so form a special afternoon show at Bond's International Casino just for fans who are too young to see the 1MB mmuD KM- popular? band perfrom during the club's regular hours.

There'll be no liquor served, of course, but there mil be music. Apparently, Bonds intends to continue the Sunday matinee concept if there is enough audience interest, and I think it's all to the good. Young fans mr Bishop Jeff Banks Dorothy Norwood deserve -the chance to see bands perform in places smaller than Madison Square Garden. SINGLES Brian Ene and David Byrne are working 1 WW on separate recording projects at Blue Rock Studio 2 on Green Street. Byrne is doing a soio album On May 27 and 28, The Rockats did a live concert at The When I started singing gospel, Mahalia Jackson was the only gospel singer white people knew.

Others never received any exposure. But in the last few years, gospel singers have appeared on TV, and there is more money behind the music. More time and effort is going into the production of spiritual music and more stations are playing it Also, In these days of strife, people are turning to the spiritual side of life. Ritz which was recorded and mixed on the spot. Since the album cover was designed and printed earlier (without a song list, for obvious reasons), Island Records said they'd have 5000 copies of the com pleted LP out within 48 hours.