‘Buena Vista’ legend Segundo dies at 95

COMPAY SEGUNDO, the veteran Cuban singer and guitarist who shot from oblivion to international fame at the sunset of his life with the Grammy-winning record Buena Vista Social Club, has died at the age of 95.

With his trademark Panama hat and cigar, he was the frontman for a group of retired musicians who revived world interest in traditional Cuban rhythms.

“The flowers of life come to everyone. One has to be ready not to miss them. Mine arrived after I was 90,” the musician said in a recent interview. He died in his Havana home before midnight on Sunday of kidney failure, his son Salvador said.

Compay boasted that he began smoking cigars at the age of five and never quit. He also vowed never to stop playing music or chasing women.

His real name was Francisco Repilado. He was born on November 18, 1907, in Siboney, near the eastern city of Santiago, where he started his career playing the clarinet in the municipal band. He acquired his nickname singing the bass harmony second voice in the duo Los Compadres.

Compay is Cuban slang for buddy, and Segundo refers to the second voice.

In the 1940s and 50s, Compay played with well-known Cuban musicians such as Nico Saquito, Miguel Matamoros and Benny More.

After Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution cleaned up Havana night-life, Compay had no choice but to hang up his guitar and take jobs rolling cigars at factories in Havana. He began to play again in the 1980s.