Benny Moré

One of the pillars of popular music in Cuba, Beny Moré was noted for both his vocal virtuosity and his direct emotional appeal, whether delivering boleros or hip-shaking mambos and rhumbas. While known for a range of styles, his distinctiveness also lay in his synthesis of two of the major currents of Cuban song: Afro-Cuban son and the Spanish-derived guajiro music of the Cuban countryside. Moré composed two of his signature hits, "Bonito y Sabroso" (1950) and "Que Bueno Baila Usted" (1957), and he doubled as a bandleader with a powerful group that represented the quintessential Afro-Cuban big-band sound of the 1950s: brash, multi-textured, and dynamic.