Dominican music icon Fernando Echavarria dies at 62

Santo Domingo.-Singer -songwriter and bandleader Fernando Echavarria, 62, died 10pm Saturdayjust minutes before he was about to take the stage for a concert.

Funeral services areslated starting noon Monday at Funeraria Blandino Lincoln Av. He died of aheart attack at the mall Galerias 330

Local media reportthat the death of the leader of the band La Familia Andre saddens the DominicanRepublic, which loses one of its most important contemporary music figures, whoinvented "Fuson," a fusion of son, merengue and other Afro-Caribbean rhythms.