Born Pascasio Alonso on 22 August 1928 in Santiago, Cuba, the future singer died on 27 August 1982 in Havana. Emerging from a large, impoverished household, he displayed an early affinity for music and rapidly earned recognition for his vocal talent. His father worked as a photographer while his mother performed on piano. Although enrolled in teacher training from 1945 onward, Alonso began appearing on radio that year, primarily via Santiago’s CMKW and occasionally from Havana, performing alongside ensembles including Pancho Portuondo and Chepín-Chovén. At the outset of the 1950s he joined Mariano Mercerón’s orchestra alongside Fernando Alvarez and Beny Moré. He soon established his own Havana-based group, which quickly rose to prominence among the capital’s leading acts. Recording sessions commenced in the mid-1950s, followed later in the decade by television appearances.
By the early 1960s Alonso had become a major recording artist. He maintained leadership of the band throughout that decade, performing at clubs, concerts and festivals across Cuba, with many compositions supplied by Enrique Bonne. International recognition arrived in the 1970s through both his discography and concert tours in multiple South American nations as well as Europe. His son Pachito Alonso, born Longino Rey Alonso Castillo in 1952, entered the ensemble in the early 1970s. Among the artists with whom Alonso collaborated and occasionally recorded were Faustino Oramas, Ibrahim Ferrer and Carlos Querol. In the late 1970s Pachito Alonso assumed the role of musical director; following his father’s death he assumed full leadership. The group, subsequently known as Pachito Alonso Y Sus Kini Kini, sustained its popularity into the early 2000s. Alonso’s grandsons Christian and Rey both perform with the band.
