Paco de Lucía

Spanish flamenco guitarist, composer, and record producer, born in 1947 and died in 2014, widely regarded as one of the finest guitarists in history. He led the modernization of flamenco through the "new flamenco" movement and was among the first flamenco players to cross into classical and jazz styles. He was born Francisco Gustavo Sánchez Gómez on 21 December 1947 in Algeciras, province of Cádiz, and took his stage name from his Portuguese mother, Lúcia Gomes; his father, the guitarist Antonio Sánchez Pecino, put him on the instrument at five. Between 1968 and 1977 he made ten albums with the singer Camarón de la Isla, and from the late 1970s toured in a trio with John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola. He received the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 2004 and died of a heart attack on 25 February 2014 in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Paco de Lucía, born Francisco Sánchez Gómez in Algeciras in 1947, was a Spanish flamenco guitarist and composer. Taught first by his father and then by his brother Ramón, he began recording with his brother Pepe before releasing his first solo album in 1967. His collaborations with John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola and Chick Corea brought jazz harmony and improvisation into dialogue with flamenco. Albums including Siroco and Zyryab developed this musical language while retaining the rhythmic structures of flamenco.