Tito Nieves has long been one of Latin music’s biggest stars - literally. He earned the nickname “The Pavarotti of Salsa” as much for his wide girth as his powerful pipes.
Salsa fans who haven’t seen Nieves perform in the past year are in for a surprising sight when he appears tomorrow night at Berklee Performance Center as part of The Lat Pack with fellow salseros Gilberto Santa Rosa and Jose Alberto.
There’s going to be a lot less of him to see.
“I’m down to a 36 waist from a 56, and a size 42 jacket from a 58,” said the Puerto Rico native, who has lost nearly 115 pounds since undergoing gastric bypass surgery last summer. “I’m down to 238 (pounds) from 352. When I walk on stage now, some people go, ‘That’s not him!’ ”
But it is. According to Nieves, who has taken salsa to new audiences by doing songs in English as well as Spanish, his voice is better than ever.
“Before I had the operation, people would say to me, ‘Tito, it’s going to affect your voice’,” he said from his home in Orlando, Fla. “It did - now I have more energy. (Losing weight) has enhanced my voice, because I’m not carrying this other person around with me.”
Nieves can belt it out, but on nearly 30 albums in his three decades in the business, he has earned a reputation as a salsa singer who likes to stretch out and take risks. From his early days cutting his teeth in New York with the Hector Lavoe Orchestra and performing with Tito Puente and Celia Cruz, to collaborating with reggaeton stars Nicky Jam and K-Mil, Nieves has been a Latin artist who won’t allow himself to be boxed in.
Which is why the 49-year-old singer was among the first of his generation to cross over in a major way. His infectious English-language hit, “I Like it Like That,” climbed the pop charts in 1997, was a dance club staple and became part of a massive Burger King ad campaign.
Nieves has salsa-fied songs by Barry White, Carole King, the Dells and the Beatles, and although his latest albums have been primarily in Spanish, including his recent tribute to Mexican singer Marco Antonio Solis, he still has a warm spot in his heart for singing salsa Anglos can comprende.
While Nieves says there won’t be any Frank Sinatra covers at tomorrow’s Lat Pack show, there will be the same kind of easy simpatico between himself, Santa Rosa and Alberto that the Chairman of the Board had with his Rat Pack of Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop.
“The three of us have been friends for 30 years , so we have a real chemistry together,” Nieves said. “We’ll be covering our own songs from the ’70s and ’80s right up until today. And we’re definitely going to have a lot of fun doing it.”
Just like Frank and Dean and Sammy, but with salsa on top.
Tito Nieves, Gilberto Santa Rosa and Jose Alberto, at Berklee Performance Center, tomorrow at 8 p.m. Tickets: $48-$68; 617-323-2441.
