Juan Avila, 56, musician and activist
Juan Avila, 56, of West Grove, a guitarist, singer-songwriter and social activist, died of cancer Thursday at home. Mr. Avila, the son of Mexican migrant workers, grew up in Texas. He started writing songs and playing guitar at 13. In his early 20s, he hitchhiked around the country with his guitar and sang his first paying gig in the French Quarter in New Orleans. At 24, he signed a songwriter's contract with Criterion Music in Hollywood.
Juan Avila, 56, of West Grove, a guitarist, singer-songwriter and social activist, died of cancer Thursday at home.
Mr. Avila, the son of Mexican migrant workers, grew up in Texas. He started writing songs and playing guitar at 13. In his early 20s, he hitchhiked around the country with his guitar and sang his first paying gig in the French Quarter in New Orleans. At 24, he signed a songwriter's contract with Criterion Music in Hollywood.
He moved to Philadelphia in the 1970s and cofounded Loaves and Fishes, a soup kitchen and spiritual refuge for the poor in Fairmount that was modeled after the Catholic Workers hospitality houses that social activist Dorothy Day established in New York. Mr. Avila ran Loaves and Fishes for more than a year before returning to full-time music-making in Philadelphia.
In the 1980s, he fronted a six-piece band, Avila. In 1991, he played the lead role in Jabobo, an independent film about a modern-day shaman. That year he recorded an album of folk songs, Rivers Have No Boundaries.
In 1996, a reviewer called Mr. Avila's album Sleeping Giant "a ground-breaking adventurous blend of Latin, jazz, progressive pop with new-world perspectives."
In the late 1990s, Mr. Avila lived in New York City and hosted a weekly jam session with his band, Conjunto Juan Avila, at the Mid-Atlantic Cafe in Brooklyn.
Since moving to Chester County in 2001, Mr. Avila taught guitar, was a studio musician, and accepted offers to perform his mix of traditional mariachi, reggae, and Caribbean music in concerts and clubs. He was a brilliant interpreter of soft salsa, boleros and other Latin classics, said a friend, Marybeth Phillips.
He was very spiritual, Phillips said, and prayed and meditated daily.
Mr. Avila was a volunteer with a Chester County program for children of migrant workers sponsored by Pennsylvania State University.
He is survived by a son, Anawim; his longtime companion, Laurie Szoke; three sisters; a brother; and his former wife, Jeanette Avila.
A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. today at Kennett Square Friends Meeting, 125 W. Sickle St., Kennett Square. Musicians are invited to bring their instruments.