Adolfo Quiñones, best known as break dancer/actor Shabba-Doo, died Wednesday. His cause of death was not disclosed. He was 65.
Quiñones, who is Puerto Rican and Black, honed his break dancing and locking skills in a housing project in Chicago. He danced for family members for spare change.
He moved with his mother and sister to Los Angeles, where he danced in clubs around the Crenshaw strip.
He was a founding member of the dance troupe The Lockers with Fred Berry (What’s Happening) and Toni Basil. The troupe opened for Frank Sinatra at Carnegie Hall and presented an award at the Grammys. They appeared on music variety TV shows, Soul Train, and in TV documentaries.
Quiñones later joined the Soul Train Gang and served as Madonna‘s choreographer during her Who’s That Girl? tour in 1987.
He co-wrote the musical Rave, and the movie Dancing to a Different Beat (1993). Quiñones starred as Turbo opposite dancer Michael “Boogaloo Shrimp” Cambers in the movie Breakin’ (1984), then retuned as Ozone in Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984).
“Breakin’ was more than just a dance film, it launched a cultural revolution. In that way, there is no other feeling quite like it. I knew it was going to be a hit,” said Quiñones, pictured with Jamie Alexander in 2006.
“If I could tell anyone out there one thing, it’s that working on your craft is great, having the desire is great, passion is great, but the match that ignites it all is education. Go to school, know your craft, know how it works and be in control of your destiny.”
Quiñones is survived by a daughter and a son.
