Adolfo “Shabba Doo” Quiñones, the dancer-actor who rose to fame starring in “Breakin‘” and its sequel “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo,” died Wednesday. He was 65.
No cause of death has been announced. Just a day before he was discovered unconscious, Quiñones had posted a photo of himself smiling and giving the peace sign in bed, writing, “Good news y’all! I’m feeling all better, just a wee bit sluggish from my cold, but the good news is I’m Covid 19 negative! Woo hoo!”
Besides appearing in the “Breakin’” films, both in 1984, he had a featured role on the big screen in “Lambada” in 1990. Prior to taking to the movies, Quiñones was already a part of pop culture history for choreographing and appearing in Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long” video.
Quiñones was a member of the Lockers crew that helped popularize the locking style of street dance. Co-founder Toni Basil posted that “it is with extreme sadness The Lockers family announces the unexpected passing of our beloved Adolfo Shabba-doo Quinones. In this difficult time we are requesting privacy.”
— Toni Basil (@Toni_Basil) December 30, 2020
Sheila E. recalled touring with Richie in her tweet calling Shabba Doo “my brother.”
I just heard I’ve lost another friend Shabba do. A great Hiphop dancer. We toured together w/ Lionel Richie 1983. Gosh, Rest In Peace my brother. @officialshabbadoo @Shabba_Doo pic.twitter.com/YntRWT1t55
— SheilaEdrummer (@SheilaEdrummer) December 30, 2020
“Damn, Shabba Doo. RIP,” wrote DJ the Blessed Madonna. “So sad to see so many of our foundational dancers passing this year.”
A message posted earlier on his web site said Quiñones was in development on “a film based on his memoirs, ‘The Godfather of Street Dance: The Dance Forefather of Hip Hop,’ which will detail and his life and reveal the true origin of street-dance.”
In a 2008 interview with the Black Hollywood File, he discussed the making and impact of “Breakin’,” saying it was critical in the development of hip-hop culture.
“It took only 21 days to make ‘Breakin’’ at a budget of $900,000,” he said. “It broke box office records and was the beginning of the hip-hop movement as we know it. If it didn’t work I think this culture would have been in trouble… We had ‘Beat Street’ (and) everybody was throwing their hat in the ring, but it was ‘Breakin’’ (that was) the one that really worked. … I think that it was the first film that showed hip-hop … had a multicultural face to it. And we always knew that. When I went out, I saw whites and blacks and Hispanics and I saw Asians and whatever all working together and doing it together. But it was perceived through the media as being only a black culture or Hispanic culture (thing). It wasn’t really something that everybody did. And ‘Breakin’’ showed that, with that white girl in it. … in the middle of all these Black people (and) Spanish people… and they totally identified with that. And that I think was key.”
But, he added, “Hip-hop may have a multi-cultural face, but let’s not be fooled, because it did come from our people. It did come from Black people, and Africans, and Puerto Ricans and all that too. Just like blues and jazz. But now it (belongs to) the world.”
Born in Chicago to a Black father and Puerto Rican mother, who raised him by herself from when he was 3, Quiñones broke into show business as a member of TV’s “Soul Train” Gang.
In a 1984 interview with the Sarasota Sun-Herald, he recalled moving to California with his mother when he was 16, and how he would hitchhike from their home in Anaheim to Hollywood for 14-hour filming sessions of “Soul Train” in 1971-72 “They couldn’t keep me out of there,” he said. “I’d get there at 7 in the morning and not leave till almost 10 at night.”
Besides working for Richie, his choreography credits included Madonna’s 1987 “Who’s That Girl?” tour and TV work on MTV’s “Blowin’ Up.” He made television appearances as a dancer as far back as 1976, on “What’s Happening!!”
He noted that he often passed for younger than his age on screen. In a 2008 interview, when he was 53, the dancer said, “That’s a number that kind of surprises people because when they think about the ‘Breakin’’ movies, they thought of me as a kid dancing. I was really a full-fledged man of 30 years old playing an 18-year-old. And I’ve always just looked younger than my age, you know.”
More to come…