Ruben Blades of Hollywood, Panama, Grammys Recovers Music Roots

Interview by Patrick Cole

July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Ruben Blades took the stage with his wife, singer Luba Mason, during her gig at Manhattan's Blue Note jazz club last week. He showed the shakers in his hands.

"I used to have a career," he said, as the crowd laughed. "Now I do this."

Blades has had more than one career. He has been an actor in over 30 films, a human-rights activist, a multiple Grammy Award-winning musician, a Harvard Law School graduate and a candidate for president in his native Panama.

Since a 5-year stint as Panama's minister of tourism ended June 30, he's putting music back on center stage in his life.

Blades, who tried to overhaul the tourism industry, came back to the U.S. in part because Panama's government wouldn't let him serve another term. He also looks forward to more- lucrative studio and performing work after struggling on a bureaucrat's salary.

"I gotta make some money, man," Blades, 61, said with a grin during an interview at the Blue Note. "I'm like another unemployed person with mortgages."

While he has helped shape Mason's music career, Blades said she has inspired him to elevate his craft. To make sure he didn't steal her spotlight at the Blue Note, he sang on only two of the songs she performed from her latest CD, "Krazy Love" (Sunnyside Records), released this year.

Mason, a classically trained vocalist and pianist who has appeared as an actor on NBC's "Law & Order" and the detective series "Raines" starring Jeff Goldblum, wrote most of the songs.

"I admire the fact that she practices piano and does vocal exercises," said Blades. "I've been out of music for five years, and I need to bring my muscles back to where they used to be."

Start in Mailroom

After earning a law degree from the University of Panama, Blades launched his music career in New York by taking a job in the mailroom of Fania Records, a New York salsa-music label. He later got a break singing for bandleader Ray Barretto who died in 2006. He also collaborated with salsa master and trombonist Willie Colon.