15 Facts About Xavier Cugat

The personal papers of Xavier Cugat are preserved in the Biblioteca de Catalunya.

Xavier Cugat's family emigrated to Cuba when he was three years old.

Xavier Cugat studied classical violin and worked as a violinist at the age of nine in a silent movie theater to help pay for his education.

Xavier Cugat was first chair violinist for the Teatro Nacional Symphonic Orchestra.

Xavier Cugat appeared in recitals with Enrico Caruso, playing violin solos.

This, too, became popular, and Xavier Cugat made the dancers part of his orchestra.

Xavier Cugat worked for the Los Angeles Times as a cartoonist.

Xavier Cugat replaced Jack Denny as leader of the hotel's resident band.

Xavier Cugat owned and operated the Mexican restaurant Casa Xavier Cugat in West Hollywood.

The restaurant's exterior and a fanciful depiction of its interior can be found in scenes in the 1949 film Neptune's Daughter in which Xavier Cugat has a substantial role playing himself.

Xavier Cugat spent his last years in Barcelona, living in a suite at the Hotel El Palace which, at the time, was the Ritz Hotel.

Xavier Cugat died of heart failure at age 90 in Barcelona and was buried in his native Girona.

Xavier Cugat was posthumously inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

Xavier Cugat recorded for Columbia, RCA Victor, Mercury, and Decca.

Xavier Cugat followed trends closely, making records for the conga, the mambo, the cha-cha-cha, and the twist when these dances were popular.