Jose Amadeo Salazar, a dentist by profession, was born in Colombia in 1912, and died in the United States in 2000 at the age of 87. He shared 55 years with his wife, Ofelia J. de Salazar, with whom he had ten children. He became a devoted Christian and instilled in his children the Christian beliefs and doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

After his retirement at the age of 70, Salazar spent most of his time reading and writing both prose and poetry. Although not a trained musician, he had a gift for melody and composed the tunes for several of his own poems, compiling them into Christian song cycles. Among them are Pregon (Proclaim), and Alabemos Con Cantos (Let Us Praise With Songs). Two of his songs were arranged by his son Ruben Salazar, a trained musician, and included in 99 New Songs, a song book edited by Evelyn Pursely-Kopitzke that was published in 2003.

2004