PACO DE LUCIA

Paco de Lucía, born Francisco Sánchez Gómez (in Algeciras, Cádiz on December 21, 1947), is a Spanish composer and guitarist, and leading proponent of the Modern Flamenco style. He is recognized as a skilled flamenco guitarist all over the world. Not only skilled in flamenco, he is one of the very few flamenco guitarists who has also successfully crossed over into other genres of music. He enjoys, and has been a successful musician in many styles, such as jazz, funk, classical, and world music. He is the winner of the 2004 Prince of Asturias Awards in Arts, and is the uncle of Spanish pop singer Malú.
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Paco de Lucia was born Francisco Sánchez Gómez on December 21st, 1947 in Algeciras, a sea port in Cadiz. He was surrounded by flamenco song and dance since he was born. He was already familiar with compas when his father began teaching him to play the guitar at the age of seven. Between 1962 and 1964 he toured the United States, along with his brother Pepe, with the Jose Greco Dance Company. There he met the great virtuosos Sabicas and Mario Escudero. Sabicas encouraged him to develop his own ideas. His greatest influence however, was undoubtably Niño Ricardo, whose style he imitated from an early age.
Since his first recording in 1960 with his brother Pepe, he has gone on to record many ground-breaking albums. All of his solo albums (and those with his sextet and the singer Camaron) are full of musical innovations which others soon began imitating, spawning a whole new generation of young virtuosos. His collaborations with non-flamenco artists such as John Mclaughlin, Al Di Meola, Chick Corea and Bryan Adams allowed him to extend his musical horizons even further. His amazing virtuosity and unprecedented popularity as an international artist have elevated him to almost messiah-like status in the eyes of many of his peers.