Juan-Carlos Formell

Cuban musician (bass, guitar), songwriter and singer, born in La Havana in 1964, died in New York May 26, 2023.

Juan-Carlos is a fourth generation musician, son of Los Van Van founder Juan Formell, brother of Samuel Formell.

In 1993 he moved to the United States, to make his own music, his way. He went to New York where he established a band, and in 1998 he was signed to the world music label Wicklow Records. His years of struggle in exile were vindicated when his debut CD, Songs From A Little Blue House, received a nomination for a Grammy in 2000. His next release, in 2002, was the critically-acclaimed Las Calles Del Paraiso (EMI Latin). Then, after several years of touring with his band and some major concerts – with Buena Vista Social Club veteran Eliades Ochoa, and world music stars Cesaria Evora, Milton Nascimento and Susana Baca – Juan-Carlos decided to take on the challenge of a solo guitar project. Inspired by a sojourn in New Orleans, Juan-Carlos returned to the Crescent City in May of 2005 to record Cemeteries & Desire, which was released by Narada Records in August 2005. In the mid-2000s he launched his trio Son Radical, and in 2014 he returned to Cuba, after the death of his father, in order to become the leader and bassist role in Los Van Van.

He died onstage during a performance at the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in the Bronx from a heart attack.

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