Ibrahim Ferrer: 1927–2005 By Wes Phillips August 8, 2005 — Ibrahim Ferrer, one of the best-known practitioners of the Cuban vocal music known as son, died in Havana on August 6 of multiple organ failure. He had returned, ill, from a European tour several days previously, and then been hospitalized.

Ferrer was born at a dance in a Santiago social club in 1927, when his mother unexpectedly went into early labor. He began singing professionally at 14. In the 1950s, he was a popular singer, fronting several well-known Cuban bands, such as that of Benny More and Orquestra de Chepin. After the Revolution, however, traditional Cuban music was not promoted and Ferrer, like his fellow Buena Vista Social Club headliners Rubèn Gonsález and Compay Segundo (both also now deceased), could no longer support themselves as musicians. Prior to that 1997 recording, Ferrer augmented his government pension by shining shoes.

When Ry Cooder, Nick Gold, and Jerry Boys recorded Buena Vista Social Club, the entire world took note of the disc's stellar performers. Ferrer, Segundo, and Gonsález all become international stars, selling millions of discs and reinvigorating interest in sones, danzons, and tumbaos—musical forms that had all but disappeared from the world stage. Buena Vista Social Club was, at least in that sense, a recording that changed the world.

Ferrer went on to release solo records in 1999 and 2003, garnering a Grammy and two Latin Grammies, including one in 2000 for "Best New Artist"—at the age of 72.

Ferrer electrified audiences with his lithe tenor and evocation of heartbreak and longing on Buena Vista Social Club, especially in the lament for lost love, Dos Gardenias—a high point of both the CD and the film of Buena Vista Social Club. It was also Ferrer who had the last word in the Wim Winders film, bidding the cheering audience, "Good night, family!"

Good night Ibrahim.