Buena Vista pianist Gonzalez has died aged 84

HAVANA, Cuba (Buena Vista latin Fans) - The Cuban pianist Ruben Gonzalez, one of the leading members of the musicians that formed the Buena Vista Social Club, has died aged 84. Gonzalez reached world stardom in the late 1990s but his career began in the 1940s at Havana's Tropicana cabaret.
Buena Vista founder and musician Ry Cooder described him as "the greatest piano soloist I have ever heard". His death follows that earlier this year of another key member of the Buena Vista Social Club, Compay Segundo.

In the 1950s and 60s, Gonzalez was at the forefront of modern Cuban music, blending jazz and Latin rhythms.

Always perfectly turned-out, Gonzalez had thought he had retired in 1996, when Ry Cooder asked him to join in the Buena Vista Social Club recordings.
Despite suffering from arthritis and not owning a piano at the time, he was overjoyed, every morning waiting outside the studio before it opened. After the success of the resulting album, he toured the world, to great critical acclaim.
With his death, and that of Compay Segundo, Cuba has lost two men whom in the final years of their lives introduced the world to a style of Cuban music that had almost been lost.