Ernesto Fruko Estrada began his musical career at the age of 15 when he joined the legendary cumbia group, Los Corraleros de Majagual. It was with Los Corraleros back in 1968 that gave Fruko the first opportunity to travel to New York to witness the city's burgeoning salsa scene.

The group Fruko y Sus Tesos began in 1970. Fruko and musical director Mario Pachanga Rincon were working for Colombia's leading record company, and they wanted to create a sound similar to New York' Fania All Stars. Rincon was a veteran of the Colombian music scene, having worked with Pedro Laza, La sonora Dinamita, the Latin Brothers, Los Corraleros de Majagual and others. At the time, Fuentes distributed Fania's titles in Colombia, so Estrada and Rincon listened to the albums of Hector Lavoe, Johnny Pacheco, and Willio Colon religiously, and later went to New York to study their music live.

In the decades since, Fruko y Sus Tesos, along with the king of the Baranquilla carnival Joe Arroyo (Arroyo has earned the carnival's top prize, the "Congo de Oro" eight times) and Grupo Niche have led a salsa scene in Colombia that ranks second to none. Arroyo himself joined Fruko in 1973, with "Piper" Pimienta Diaz and Wilson Manyoma to create a true Colombian equivalent to Fania.