Spanish-Cuban musician and bandleader
Xavier Cugat
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Xavier_Cugat_%28Gottlieb_10661%29.jpg/220px-Xavier_Cugat_%28Gottlieb_10661%29.jpg) |
Born
| Francisco de Asis Javier Cugat Mingall de Bru y Deulofeu
(
1900-01-01
)
1 January 1900
[1]
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Died
| 27 October 1990
(1990-10-27)
(aged 90)
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Occupations
|
- Musician
- singer
- actor
- director
- screenwriter
- bandleader
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Years active
| 1925?1970
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Spouses
|
(
m.
1918;
div.
1920)
Carmen Castillo
(
m.
1929;
div.
1946)
Lorraine Allen
(
m.
1947;
div.
1952)
(
m.
1952;
div.
1963)
(
m.
1966;
div.
1978)
|
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Relatives
| Francis Cugat
(brother)
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Website
| xaviercugat
.com
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Xavier Cugat
(
Catalan:
[??βi?e
ku??at]
; 1 January 1900
[1]
– 27 October 1990) was a Spanish musician and bandleader who spent his formative years in
Havana, Cuba
. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a leading figure in the spread of
Latin music
. In
New York City
, he was the leader of the resident orchestra at the
Waldorf?Astoria
before and after
World War II
. He was also a cartoonist and a restaurateur. The personal papers of Xavier Cugat are preserved in the
Biblioteca de Catalunya
.
Life and career
[
edit
]
Cugat was born
Francisco de Asis Javier Cugat Mingall de Bru y Deulofeu
[2]
in
Girona
,
Catalonia
, Spain, in 1900 (although he would later claim to have been born in 1901).
[2]
His family emigrated to Cuba when he was three years old.
[3]
He studied classical violin and worked as a violinist at the age of nine in a silent movie theater to help pay for his education. He was first chair violinist for the Teatro Nacional Symphonic Orchestra. When he was not performing, he started drawing caricatures.
[4]
On 6 July 1915 he and his family arrived in New York City on the
SS
Havana
. Cugat appeared in recitals with
Enrico Caruso
, playing violin solos.
[2]
In the 1920s, he led a band that played often at the Coconut Grove, a club in
Los Angeles
. Cugat's friend,
Charlie Chaplin
, visited the club to dance the tango, so Cugat added tangos to the band's performances.
[5]
Seeing how popular the dance was becoming, Cugat convinced the owner to hire South American dancers to give tango lessons. This, too, became popular, and Cugat made the dancers part of his orchestra. In 1928 he turned his act into the film
Xavier Cugat and His Gigolos
.
[5]
[6]
He worked for the
Los Angeles Times
as a cartoonist. His caricatures were nationally syndicated. They appeared in
Photoplay
magazine beginning with the November 1927 issue, under the byline "de Bru." His older brother,
Francis
, was an artist of some note, having painted cover art for
F. Scott Fitzgerald
's novel
The Great Gatsby
.
[7]
In 1931, Cugat took his band to New York for the 1931 opening of the
Waldorf?Astoria
hotel. He replaced
Jack Denny
as leader of the hotel's resident band. For sixteen years, he led the
Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra
, shuttling between New York and Los Angeles for most of the next 30 years. One of his trademark gestures was to hold a
Chihuahua
while he waved his baton with the other arm.
[8]
His music career led to appearing in the films
In Gay Madrid
(1930),
You Were Never Lovelier
(1942),
Bathing Beauty
(1944),
Week-End at the Waldorf
(1945),
Holiday in Mexico
(1946),
A Date with Judy
(1948),
On an Island with You
(1948), and
Chicago Syndicate
(1955).
[5]
Cugat owned and operated the Mexican restaurant Casa Cugat in
West Hollywood
. The restaurant was frequented by Hollywood celebrities and featured two singing guitarists who would visit each table and play diners' favorite songs upon request.
[9]
The restaurant began operations in the 1940s and closed in 1986.
[10]
The restaurant's exterior and a fanciful depiction of its interior can be found in scenes in the 1949 film
Neptune's Daughter
in which Cugat has a substantial role playing himself. A brief scene revolving around the restaurant can also be seen in the earlier 1943 film
The Heat's On
, also starring Cugat as himself.
Death
[
edit
]
Xavier Cugat's tomb in Girona's old cemetery
Cugat spent his last years in
Barcelona
, Catalonia, Spain, living in a suite at
Hotel Ritz (Barcelona)
[
es
]
. He died of
heart failure
at age 90 in Barcelona and was buried in his native
Girona
. He was posthumously inducted into the
International Latin Music Hall of Fame
in 2001.
[11]
Marriages
[
edit
]
Cugat was married five times. His first marriage was to
Rita Montaner
(1918?20), his second was to his band vocalist Carmen Castillo (1929?44), his third to actress Lorraine Allen (1947?52), his fourth to singer
Abbe Lane
(1952?64), and his fifth to Spanish guitarist and comic actress
Charo
(1966?78).
Recordings
[
edit
]
Cugat recorded for
Columbia
(1940s and 1950s, and Epic),
RCA Victor
(1930s and 1950s),
Mercury
(1951?52 and the 1960s), and
Decca
(1960s).
Dinah Shore
made her first recordings as a vocalist with Cugat in 1939 and 1940 for RCA Victor. In 1940 his recording of "
Perfidia
" became a hit. Cugat followed trends closely, making records for the conga, the
mambo
, the
cha-cha-cha
, and the
twist
when these dances were popular. Several songs that he recorded, including "Perfidia", were used in the
Wong Kar-wai
films
Days of Being Wild
and
2046
.
In 1943, "
Brazil
" was Cugat's most successful chart hit. It spent seven weeks at No. 2 on the
Billboard
magazine National Best Selling Retail Records chart behind
Harry James's
song "
I've Heard That Song Before
".
[12]
In the 1950s he made several recordings with his wife, singer
Abbe Lane
.
His orchestra included
Desi Arnaz
,
Lina Romay
,
Abbe Lane
,
Tito Rodriguez
,
Yma Sumac
,
Miguelito Valdes
,
[5]
Frank Berardi, Gene Lorello, George Lopez, Glenn E. Brown, Henry Greher, Isabello Marerro, James English, John Haluko, Joseph Gutierrez, Luis Castellanos, Manuel Paxtot, Oswaldo Oliveira, Otto Bolivar, Otto Garcia, Rafael Angelo, Richard Hoffman, Robert De Joseph, and Robert Jones.
Discography
[
edit
]
- One, Two, Three, Kick ? Congas
(Victor, 1941)
- Xavier Cugat's Mexico
(Columbia, 1944)
- Cugat's Favorite Rhumbas
(
Columbia
, 1945)
- In Santiago, Chile
(Tain't Chilly At All) (Columbia], 1948)
- Siesta
(Columbia, 1948)
- Tropical Bouquets
(Columbia, 1949)
- Relaxing with Cugat
(Columbia, 1952)
- Dancetime with Cugat
(RCA Victor, 1953)
- Cugat's Favorite Rhumbas
(Columbia, 1954)
- Ole!
(Columbia, 1955)
- Mambo at the Waldorf
(Columbia, 1955)
- Cha Cha Cha
(Columbia, 1955)
- Cugatango!
(10" record) (Columbia, 1956)
- Bread, Love and Cha Cha Cha
(Columbia, 1957)
- Waltzes but by Cugat!
(Columbia, 1957)
- Mambo! (Music for Latin Lovers)
(
Mercury
, 1957)
- The King Plays Some Aces
(RCA Victor, 1958)
- Cugat Calvalcade
(Columbia, 1958)
- Cugat in Spain
(RCA Victor, 1959)
- That Latin Beat!
(RCA Victor, 1959)
- Chile Con Cugie
(RCA Victor, 1959)
- The Latin Rhythms of Xavier Cugat
(
Harmony
, 1960)
- Cugat in France, Spain, and Italy
(RCA Victor, 1960)
- The Best of Cugat
(Mercury, 1961)
- Viva Cugat!
(Mercury, 1961)
- Twist with Cugat
(Mercury, 1962)
- Cugat Plays Continental Hits
(Mercury, 1962)
- Most Popular Movie Hits As Styled By Cugat
(Mercury, 1962)
- Cugat Plays Continental Hits
(Mercury, 1962)
- Cugi's Cocktails
(Mercury, 1963)
- Cugat's Golden Goodies
(Mercury, 1963)
- Cugi's Cocktails
(Mercury, 1963)
- Cugat Caricatures
(Mercury, 1964)
- Plays the Music of Ernesto Lecuona
(Mercury, 1964)
- Midnight Roses
(
Decca
, 1968)
- The Cugat Touch
(Springboard, 1976)
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
NOTE: Some sources (
[1]
,
[2]
) indicate 1901 as his year of birth; however, the majority of references, including his tombstone and various United States censuses, all clearly support 1900 as the correct year of birth.
- ^
a
b
c
Xavier Cugat official webpage
, xaviercugat.com; accessed 8 November 2015.
- ^
"Bandleader Xavier Cugat, 'Rumba King,' Dies at 90"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Archived from
the original
on November 20, 2015
. Retrieved
August 23,
2019
.
- ^
Groppa, Carlos G. (16 January 2018).
The Tango in the United States: A History
. McFarland. pp. 119?.
ISBN
978-0-7864-2686-7
. Retrieved
20 February
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Harris, Craig.
"Xavier Cugat"
.
AllMusic
. Retrieved
21 February
2019
.
- ^
Profile
Archived
November 24, 2006, at the
Wayback Machine
LegacyRecordings.com; accessed 8 November 2015.
- ^
Tate, Mary Jo (2007).
Critical Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald
. Infobase Publishing. p. 88.
ISBN
978-0-8160-6433-5
. Retrieved
8 November
2015
.
- ^
Powell, Jane (1988).
The Girl Next Door...and How She Grew
(1st ed.). Morrow. p.
112
.
ISBN
0-688-06757-3
.
- ^
"Mexican Food: What Do Showbiz People Like to Eat?"
.
The Los Angeles Times
. Los Angeles. March 11, 1980
. Retrieved
February 19,
2017
.
- ^
Andrews, Colman (May 18, 1986).
"A Bogus Critic Without Reservation"
.
The Los Angeles Times
. Los Angeles
. Retrieved
19 February
2017
.
- ^
"International Latin Music Hall of Fame Announces Inductees for 2001"
. 3 April 2001
. Retrieved
31 October
2015
.
- ^
"The Billboard Music Popularity Chart"
(PDF)
.
americanradiohistory.com
. The Billboard. 3 April 1943. p. 22
. Retrieved
21 February
2019
.
- ^
"The Lady in Red" by Xavier Cugat and His Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra, Written by Mort Dixon and Allie Wrubel, Recorded April 1, 1935, and released April 24, 1935, on Victor 25012-A, 78 RPM single –
SecondHandSongs
External links
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]
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