Rudy Perez was born in Cuba and arrived in Florida when he was eight years old. Soon after, he purchased his first guitar from Ace Music in Miami and formed a touring band. Along the way,...

Juan Croucier toured the world as a rock and roll star as an original member of Ratt! He began performing bass in Hollywood in 1973, which lead to friendships that would later become the ...

Ramon Portal moved from Cuba to the United States in 1962 and heard of an inventory job at Guild Guitar and, as he often has said, his American dream came true.  Ramon worked his way up w...

Walfredo Reyes Sr. is the Cuban-born percussionist who became known around the world for his style of playing. He is also known to many drummers as the father of two great percussionists,...

Arturo Sandoval is the Cuba born jazz trumpeter best known for the 2000 film “For Love of Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story” in which Andy Garcia portrayed Arturo. Over the years he has ...

Manny Lopez was known around the world as the King of the Cha Cha Cha for his 1950s band and hit records dedicated to the dance craze, but Manny’s musical career was far more than just th...

Candido Camero was born in Cuba on April 22, 1921. By the age of four he was already interested in percussive instruments--a field he would revolutionize by blending Latin beats with jazz...

Dafnis Prieto grew up in a musical neighborhood in Cuba where he quickly fell in love with the drums. During his 2008 NAMM Oral History Interview, Dafnis discussed some of his musical inf...

AV (Bam) Bamford was a colorful country music producer originally from Cuba. During the mid-1930s, he owned and operated a string of radio stations, mostly in the southern United States. ...