Latin music pioneer Edmundo Ros dies

EDMUNDO Ros, the celebrated musician credited with popularising Latin American music in the UK, has died at the age of 100 after a long and distinguished life.

Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, Ros was the son of a Scots father and black Venezuelan mother. He went on to make hundreds of recordings and sell millions of records.

He made his name when the then Princess Elizabeth – now The Queen – made her first public dance to his music and in later years he and his orchestra were often invited to play at Buckingham Palace.

Ros lived in Venezuela from 1927 to 1937, where he played in the Venezuelan Military Academy Band as well as being a timpanist in the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra.

He received a music scholarship from the government, and left Venezuela to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1937 to 1942.

He formed his own rumba band, performing in London clubs and restaurants, and cutting his own tracks.

During the London blitz his band had a close call when a Nazi bomb almost hit the venue in which they were performing.

An early recording for Parlophone was Record of the Month in June 1941, and a contract with the famed Bagatelle Restaurant opened the doors for Ros to high society.

He went on to be the proprietor of his own club, dance school, record company and an artist’s agency, while his band grew and was renamed Edmundo Ros and his Orchestra.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Ros orchestra appeared frequently on BBC Radio, and in the late 1950s Ros recorded Broadway musical melodies arranged to Latin rhythms, including the mambo, cha cha cha, rumba, samba, baion, bolero, valse creole, meringe, guaracha and the conga.

He also created a series of TV shows for the US and European markets.

In 1975 he disbanded the orchestra, and destroyed most of its arrangement sheets.

John Adrian, secretary of the showbusiness fraternity the Grand Order of Water Rats, said: “He was a major figure. He retired in 1975, but between 1939 and 1975 he was a big, big name, had his own club in London and played around the world.

“His discography is massive. He was the one who really popularised Latin American music in this country.”

After his retirement, Ros moved to Spain.

He gave his last public performance in 1994 when he conducted and sang with the BBC Big Band with Strings at The Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

In the 2000 New Year’s Honours List, aged 90, Ros was awarded an OBE.

He died peacefully at his Alicante home, two months short of his 101st birthday.