- Born
- Died
- Birth nameFrancisco de Asís Javier Cugat Mingall de Bru y Deulofeu
- Nicknames
- The Rumba King
- Cugie
- Born in Spain, Xavier Cugat's family moved to Havana, Cuba, when he was three. Always musically inclined, he packed up and moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times newspaper during the day and labored to put together a band at night. After a few years of playing smaller clubs in the L.A. area, Cugat finally got his break when he and his band secured a job at the prestigious Coconut Grove nightclub in 1928. His style of music caught on, and Cugat was instrumental in bringing Latin music to the attention of the US public. In the '30s and '40s he was nicknamed "The Rumba King" because of his popularization of that Latin dance. In Cugat's film appearances he usually played himself, even if the character had a name other than Xavier Cugat, and he and his band appeared in several memorable MGM musicals in the '40s. After suffering a stroke in 1971, Xavier Cugat retired.
- IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com
- SpousesCharo(August 7, 1966 - April 17, 1978) (divorced)Abbe Lane(May 5, 1952 - June 3, 1964) (divorced)Lorraine Allen(October 15, 1947 - April 18, 1952) (divorced)Carmen Castillo(October 17, 1929 - October 10, 1947) (divorced)Rita Montaner(1918 - 1920) (divorced)
- He was well known for holding a puppy chihuahua in his arms as he led his orchestra.
- Moustache
- As a teenage violin prodigy, under the name Francis Cugat, he toured in concert with Enrico Caruso.
- In the mid-1960s, he gained notoriety and increased public exposure when he married his fifth, and final wife, a young Spanish entertainer known as Charo (aka "The Cuchi-Cuchi Girl") who was about 40 years his junior (her actual age is still a matter of speculation). Her extroverted personality and limited command of English made them popular guests on various television talk shows.
- Cugat's father, a political prisoner, was pardoned just after Cugat's birth, and Cugat and his brothers were all exempted from military service.
- Spanish-born bandleader who popularized the rumba in America.
- He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 1500 Vine Street and for Recording at 1601 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.
- I'm still glad ... that the man across the street was a violin-maker. Lucky! Sure. Think of it: What if that man across the street had been a maker of shoes?
- , "I would rather play 'Chiquita Banana' and have my swimming pool than play Bach and starve."
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