Pio Leyva

HAVANA (AP) - Vocalist Pio Leyva, one of the aging musicians who gained international fame through the Buena Vista Social Club group, has died of natural causes, his family said Thursday. He was 88.

Born on May 5, 1917, in the eastern province of Camaguey, Leyva died of a heart attack on Wednesday evening, his relatives said.

"He was a glory of Cuban music and the world, and up to yesterday he was giving it his all," said Leyva's daughter, Rosalia Leyva. "I know the whole world is going to remember him."

Leyva entered the world of music at a young age, winning a bongo contest when he was just 6 years old and going on to sing with Cuban legends including the late Beny More and Bebo Valdes.

Leyva collaborated on more than 25 albums over more than half a century.

His work with the late Compay Segundo, perhaps the best known of the Buena Vista Social Club, stretched back to the early 1950s. They hooked up again in the late 1990s when the group was formed.

Leyva's participation in the Buena Vista Social Club "was just one more success in his long career," said his son Wilfredo Pio Leyva, adding that his father "was born to and lived music."

Several other key members of the group have died in recent years, including Compay Segundo - who was born Maximo Francisco Repilado Munoz - pianist Ruben Gonzalez and singer Ibrahim Ferrer.

Burial was scheduled for Thursday afternoon.


Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press