The Cuban singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés, father of classics such as ‘Yolanda’, dies in Madrid at the age of 79

The Cuban singer-songwriter Pablo Milanes He died at dawn this Tuesday at the age of 79 in Madrid after having been hospitalized for an oncohematological disease, as reported by his artistic office.

“With great pain and sadness, we regret to inform that the teacher Pablo Milanés has passed away this morning of November 22 in Madrid. We are deeply grateful for all the expressions of affection and support, to all his family and friends, in these difficult times (. ..) It will remain forever in our memory”, wields a statement released on the artist’s social networks.

Milanés, father of nine children, was stable and the infections that brought him to the hospital had begun to affect his state of health in the last three months, all derived from the disease he had suffered for several years. Precisely, this disease required him to settle in Madrid at the end of 2017 to receive a “non-existent” treatment in Cuba, his office recalled.

After his hospitalization, Milanés was forced to cancel concerts scheduled for the coming weeks, among which one was scheduled in Pamplona, ​​as well as in Mexico City or Santo Domingo.

The composer shared his life in Vigo with his last wife, the Galician historian Nancy Perez, mother of his two young children, who donated a kidney to him a few years ago. The artist, born in the Cuban city of Bamayo on February 24, 1943, is the winner of two Latin Grammys (2006) and a statuette for Musical Excellence (2015).

Some of his greatest hits were love songs like Yolanda, the short space o Love me as I amall combining genres and sounds ranging from tradition to modernity, including jazz, rumba, bolero or son.

The President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, has expressed his condolences for the death of Pablo Milanés, through a message on his profile on the social network Twitter. “One of our greatest musicians physically disappears. An inseparable voice from the soundtrack of our generation. My condolences to his widow and children, to Cuba,” he indicated.