Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra
1952 Film featurette - Universal Studios

Francesc d'Asís Xavier Cugat Mingall de Bru i Deulofeu (1 January 1900 – 27 October 1990) was a Catalan-Cuban bandleader whom many consider to have had more to do with the infusion of Latin music into United States popular music than any other musician. Perez Prado followed in Cugat's footsteps. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (425x650, 208 KB) This image is being used to illustrate the Xavier Cugat featurette and is used for informational or educational purposes only. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (425x650, 208 KB) This image is being used to illustrate the Xavier Cugat featurette and is used for informational or educational purposes only. ... Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal Pictures or Universal City Studios), a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the major American film studios. ... is the 1st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Äž: For the film, see: 1900 (film). ... is the 300th day of the year (301st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... The Catalans are an ethnic group or nationality whose homeland is Catalonia, or the Principality of Catalonia (Catalan: Catalunya, or Principat de Catalunya), which is a historical region in southern Europe, embracing a territory situated in the north-east of Spain and an adjoining portion of southern France. ... A bandleader is the director of a band of musicians. ... Latin American music, or the music of Latin America, is sometimes called Latin music. ... Popular music is music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more of the mass media. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Cugat was born in Barcelona, Spain. ^[1] With his family, he emigrated to Cuba when he was five. He trained as a classical violinist and played with the Orchestra of the Teatro Nacional in Havana. For other uses, see Barcelona (disambiguation). ... Nickname: (Spanish) City of Columns Position of Havana in the Americas Coordinates: , Country  Cuba Province Ciudad de La Habana Municipalities 15 Founded 1515a Government  - Mayor Juan Contino Aslán Area  - City 721. ...

On 6 July 1915, Cugat and his family arrived in New York as immigrant passengers on board the S.S. Havana. Entering the world of show business, he played with a band called “The Gigolos” during the tango craze.^[2] Later, he went to work for the Los Angeles Times as a cartoonist. Cugat's caricatures were later nationally syndicated. is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... NY redirects here. ... This just IN !!!:paris hiltons new dog. ...

In the late 1920s, as sound began to be used in films, he put together another tango band that had some success in early short musical films. By the early 1930s, he began appearing with his group in feature films. Cugat took his band to New York to open the new Waldorf Astoria Hotel and it became the hotel's resident group. The 1920s is a decade that is sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... Face The 1930s (years from 1930–1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ...

He shuttled between New York and Los Angeles for most of the next thirty years, alternating hotel and radio dates with movie appearances in films such as Week-End at the Waldorf (1945). Week-End at the Waldorf is a 1945 American drama film. ...

In 1940, he recorded the song Perfidia with singer Miguelito Valdés which became a big hit. Cugat followed trends closely, making records for the conga, the mambo, the cha-cha-cha, and the twist when each was in fashion. His first marriage was to Rita Montaner; his second to Carmen Castillo (1929 – 1946); his third to Lorraine Allen (1947 – 28 April 1952); and his fourth to singer Abbe Lane in 1952. He and Lane performed together until their divorce in 1963. He married salsa dancer Charo on 7 August 1966; the two were the first couple to marry in the newly opened Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. Perfidia (Spanish for perfidy) is a popular old Mexican song about love and betrayal written by Alberto Domínguez. ... Mambo is a Cuban musical form and dance style. ... For the dance, see Cha-cha-cha (dance). ... The Twist was a rock and roll dance popular in the early 1960s and also the name of the song that originated it. ... is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article uses Weasel Words. ... María del Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza de Rasten (born March 13, 1951; disputed year 1941) better known in the Latin and Hollywood show business as Charo, is a singer, dancer, comedienne, actress and classical guitar player. ... is the 219th day of the year (220th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... Caesars Palace is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada. ... The south end of The Strip; approximately one third of the entire Strip is represented here. ...

Cugat did not lose sleep over artistic compromises: “I would rather play Chiquita Banana and have my swimming pool than play Bach and starve.”

Cugat died of heart failure at age 90 in Barcelona in his native Catalonia, Spain. Anthem: Capital Barcelona Official language(s) Catalan,Spanish and Aranese. ...

In popular culture

Xavier Cugat Album Cover

• Xavier Cugat is mentioned in A Goofy Movie where Goofy calls him the “Mambo King”.
• Xavier Cugat is mentioned frequently on I Love Lucy. For example, in the episode titled “Lucy Goes to Scotland”, Lucy gives Ricky an LP, which he looks at, reads “Xavier McCugat?!” and tosses it away. The jokes were meant to poke fun at the fact that both Cugat and Ricky Ricardo were Cuban bandleaders.
• Xavier Cugat is mentioned in the song “Joe le taxi”, sung by Vanessa Paradis, probably as an artist that Joe, the taxi driver, likes to listen to.
• Several of the songs he recorded, including Perfidia, were used in the Wong Kar-wai films Days of Being Wild and 2046
• Xavier Cugat is mentioned in third scene of A Streetcar Named Desire (play).
• Xavier Cugat is mentioned in an episode of the TV series M*A*S*H. Hawkeye asserts that “The only Latin I know is Xavier Cugat.”
• Xavier Cugat is mentioned twice in the third season Frasier episode “Moon Dance”.
• Xavier Cugat and Ben & Jerry's are parodied in an episode of The Simpsons when Lisa finds an ice cream flavor called “Xavier Nougat”, to which Homer replies, “No… [I don't want] nothin' made o'dead guys!” In a different episode, “Jazzy and the Pussycats”, Bart declared “Xavier Cugat” as a non-sequitur reply to a question while speaking like a jazz musician.
• In the ZBS Foundation's series of radio dramas Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe, Cugat is the patron saint of The Moles of Zeeboos, a tango-loving race of sentient humanoid moles; also, one month of the Mole calendar is named for Cugat.
• In Tom Griffin's 1983 play The Boys Next Door, Arnold continually references Cugat saying, “He thinks he's Xavier Cugat or somebody.” [See page 26, Dramatists Play Service, Inc.]
• Xavier Cugat's performance of the song “Yo Te Amo Mucho” appears in The Matador (2005), while Pierce Brosnan is watching T.V. in the hotel.
• Xavier Cugat is mentioned in Woody Allen's Sleeper (1973), when Diane Keaton, searching for a new superlative for an object of modern art, says “it's greater than keen! It's Cugat!”
• Xavier Cugat is mentioned in an episode of All in the Family when the Bunker family is playing a trivia game based on bandleaders' initials. However, Archie mistakenly states Cugat's initials to be “E.C.” When corrected by Mike, Archie exclaims, "Whoever heard of anyone having an X for an initial?"
• Selected Xavier Cugat music can be heard on Radio Espantoso on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
• His birthdate, January 1, 1900, was considered so distinctive in Spain thast he and his brothers were exempted from future military duty and his father, a political prisoner, was released from jail. (Source: Text accompanying record collection The Great Band Era, published in 1966, including Cugat's title "Quiéreme Mucho.")
• In an early issue of Mad Magazine, he is referred to as "Xubirant Catgut," conducting the "How're Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree!) Mambo?."

Image File history File links Xaviercugat2. ... Image File history File links Xaviercugat2. ... A Goofy Movie is a 1995 animated feature and musical film, produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation Paris and released to theatres by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution, featuring the characters from the Disney Afternoon television series Goof Troop. ... It has been suggested that Goofy holler be merged into this article or section. ... I Love Lucy is a television situation comedy starring Lucille Ball, her orchestra leader husband Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance and William Frawley. ... < </gallery> </gallery> Vanessa Chantal Paradis (born December 22, 1972 in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Val-de-Marne, France) is a French singer and actress. ... Perfidia (Spanish for perfidy) is a popular old Mexican song about love and betrayal written by Alberto Domínguez. ... Wong Kar-wai (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Cantonese Yale: Wòhng Gà Waih; Shanghainese Latin method: Wan Kawe; born July 17, 1958) is a Hong Kong film director known for his visually unique, highly stylized art films. ... Days of Being Wild aka The True Story of Ah Fei (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: ā fēi zhèng zhuàn) is a 1991 Hong Kong movie by director Wong Kar-wai. ... 2046 is a Hong Kong movie (filmed in Shanghai) written and directed by Wong Kar-wai and released in 2004. ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... M*A*S*H is an American television series developed by Larry Gelbart, inspired by the 1968 Richard Hooker (penname for H. Richard Hornberger) novel M*A*S*H: A Novel About Three Army Doctors and its sequels, but primarily by the 1970 film MASH, and influenced by the 1961... Frasier is a popular American situation comedy television series that starred Kelsey Grammer, reprising the character of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane from parent show Cheers, which had ended months before. ... List of Frasier episodes (Season 3) Moon Dance is the thirteenth episode from the third season of Frasier. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... ZBS Foundation, a small non-profit audio production company, was founded in 1970 by a grant from Robert E. Durance as a working commune operating from a donated plantation in Upper New York State. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Pierce Brendan Brosnan OBE [1] (born May 16, 1953) is an Irish actor and producer best known for portraying James Bond in four films from 1995 to 2002: GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day. ... Woody Allen (born Allen Stewart Königsberg on December 1, 1935) is a three-time Academy Award-winning American film director, writer, actor, jazz musician, comedian, and playwright. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Radio Espantoso is a radio station in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. ... Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (released in October 2002) is the fourth video game in the hit Grand Theft Auto series. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A political prisoner is someone held in prison or otherwise detained, perhaps under house arrest, because their ideas or image are deemed by a government to either challenge or threaten the authority of the state. ... Harvey Kurtzmans cover for the first issue of the comic book Mad Mad is an American humor magazine founded by publisher William Gaines and editor Harvey Kurtzman in 1952. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) The Eiffel Tower in Paris, as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ... Mambo is a Cuban musical form and dance style. ...

References