Biography
Paco de Lucía (1947 - 2014) was a Spanish guitarist and composer, he is considered as the best guitarist of flamenco, which he renewed it like no other.
He was born on December 21, 1947 in Algeciras, southern Spain and was the youngest of five children in his family. Their father was a Spanish flamenco guitarist who had taken over the musical education of his children, pushing Paco in particular to study very hard and for long hours every day, from the age of 5. At one point, his father stopped him from school to focus solely on learning the guitar.
In 1958, at the age of 11, Paco made his first public appearance on Radio Algeciras. A year later, he was awarded a special prize in a flamenco competition. At the age of 14 he made his first record with his brother Pepe, entitled: Los Chiquitos de Algeciras (The little ones from Algeciras). In the early 1960s, de Lucía toured with dancer José Greco's flamenco troupe. In 1964, he met Madrileño guitarist Ricardo Modrego with whom he recorded three albums:
He appeared at the Berlin Jazz Festival in 1967 and seems to have been influenced by the leading jazz musicians who took part; Lucia developed a love of jazz that remained throughout his life. In the late 1960s, de Lucía toured Europe with a group called Festival Flamenco Gitano and met other new talents in the flamenco world, including the singer Camarón de la Isla, with whom they recorded ten albums . He also recorded several albums with his brother Pepe.
As the 1970s progressed, de Lucía began producing groundbreaking albums and venturing an increasingly unconventional and modern approach to jazz-influenced flamenco. He played extensively in the US and Europe in the following years increasing his popularity outside of Spain. On his tours he met many jazz and Latin musicians who continued to influence his development. With his strong clear playing, his improvisations and his connection with jazz and classical music, he managed to modernize traditional Spanish flamenco making it known to the whole world.
In 1977, de Lucia married Casilda Varela, daughter of a general and descendant of a powerful family of Basque industrialists. On February 25, 2014, while on vacation in Mexico with his second wife and their 2 children - he had 3 more from his first marriage - and while playing soccer with his son on the beach, he asked his wife to take him to hospital because he felt ill. Arriving there he lost consciousness and died of a heart attack.