Pio Leyva, a singer and composer in the Buena Vista Social Club band of veteran Cuban musicians, died on Thursday of a heart attack. He was 88.
Leyva, who won a bongo contest at the age of six and made his singing debut in 1932, had suffered a stroke on Sunday and died early Thursday morning in hospital, his daughter Rosalia said. The colorful improviser of traditional Cuban “son” music was the latest of the famed band’s stars to pass away.
Its oldest member, guitarist Compay Segundo, and pianist Ruben Gonzalez died in 2003, aged 95 and 84. Singer Ibrahim Ferrer died last year at the age of 78.
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