Ibrahim Ferrer

One of Cuba’s finest singers of uptempo guarachas and sones, Ibrahim Ferrer emerged from late-life retirement to become a Grammy-winning specialist in downtempo boleros. Born near Santiago de Cuba in 1927, Ferrer was orphaned at age 12 and joined his first band a year later. He worked steadily in various groups during the ’50s, including Los Bocucos, with whom he sang in Havana from 1953 until his retirement in 1991. Ferrer was shining shoes to supplement his small pension when bassist Juan de Marcos Gonzalez plucked him off the street to croon boleros on the Afro Cuban All Stars’ A Toda Cuba Le Gusta and, immediately after, the Ry Cooder-produced, Grammy-winning Buena Vista Social Club. Those two 1997 albums for the World Circuit label relaunched the careers of Ferrer and the project’s other charismatic veterans. In 1999, Ferrer released his Cooder-produced solo debut, Ibrahim Ferrer (Buena Vista Social Club Presents)—which nabbed him a Latin Grammy for Best New Artist at the age of 72—followed by Buenos Hermanos in 2003. He toured regularly until his death in 2005.