William Vivanco is a composer and musician. Vivanco learned to play guitar by frequenting in Santiago Casa de la Trova on Calle Heredia, "stealing chords". He busked in the streets, and also performed with a professional children's choir. He trained his voice, learning the techniques that would enable him to develop his distinctively percussive vocal style. He also played day-long romerias and at the Festival of Singers of the Americas in Guantanamo. Vivanco first came to Havana when he was 23 years old. The Bis Music label at the Santa Clara song festival spotted him and offered him the possibility to make his first solo album in 2002 called Lo Tengo To' Pensa'o a mix of Brazilian music, pop and reggae. His song and the accompanying video clip "Cimarr�n" became popular. "Cimarr�n" refers to African slaves who ran away from their Spanish masters. In 2006, Vivanco recorded his second solo album, La Isla Milagrosa, produced by Descemer Bueno and Roberto Carcass�s. In recent times Vivanco has started to distance himself from his funkier, poppier tunes in favour of music that is more "Santiaguera", more Cuban, more rhythmic ? more traditional. [More at Wikipedia]

October 6th, 1975 in Santiago de Cuba (Age 49)