Joe Lala

Joseph Anthony Lala was born on November 3, 1947, in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, to a family of Italian-American heritage. His father left the household during Joe's childhood, and he was raised solely by his mother, Janie Cacciatore, who was an avid dancer and regularly brought her son to theatrical performances. Lala spoke fluent Spanish and Italian, skills that would later prove valuable throughout his acting career. He died on March 18, 2014, from complications of lung cancer at the age of 66.

Lala began his musical career playing drums in various Florida bands before co-founding the rock band Blues Image in 1966, occasionally taking on lead vocal duties, most notably on the track "Leaving My Troubles Behind." As a drummer and percussionist, he went on to work alongside The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Manassas, The Stills-Young Band, The Bee Gees, Whitney Houston, Joe Walsh, and Andy Gibb, among many others. He served as the final drummer for the Byrds during a brief series of concerts in February 1973. His percussion work appeared on the Bee Gees' 1976 US chart-topping single "You Should Be Dancing," which was later included on the multi-million-selling Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. He also contributed percussive effects to Barbra Streisand's 1980 worldwide number-one album Guilty and played on Whitney Houston's self-titled 1985 debut album. Over the course of his recording career, Lala accumulated 32 gold records and 28 platinum records. His soundtrack work spanned films including Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive, Airplane!, Streets of Fire, All the Right Moves, The Lonely Guy, and several others. A severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome eventually curtailed his full-time performing career, though he continued to record with artists including Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, Firefall, Dan Fogelberg, Dolly Parton, and Rod Stewart.

Drawing on his Italian-American background and command of Spanish, Cuban, and Puerto Rican accents, Lala built a substantial television acting career with appearances on Miami Vice, General Hospital, Melrose Place, Seinfeld, Hunter, and Who's the Boss?, and he starred in the summer replacement series Knight & Daye. He portrayed Dr. Ferdie Pacheco, a fellow Ybor City native, in Ali: An American Hero, and co-starred with Andy Garcia in For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story. His film credits included Havana with Robert Redford, Out for Justice, Marked for Death, Sugar Hill, On Deadly Ground, and Born in East L.A. Lala also lent his voice to numerous animated series, among them Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Pinky and the Brain, Johnny Bravo, and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, and voiced the character Kun Lan in the 2005 video game Killer7.

On Broadway, Lala appeared in City of Angels in 1991. He was married to voice director Ginny McSwain from 1996 until their divorce in 2004. In the mid-2000s, he stepped away from acting to care for his mother, who had developed dementia, and spent time coaching young actors at the Italian Club in his native Ybor City.