One of a musically gifted family — his two sisters are (were?) both pianists and composers of songs, one brother is (was?) a pianist and the other is (was?) a violinist. Lecuona himself was an infant prodigy, and appeared in public, playing the piano, at the age of 5. His first published composition came out when he was 11. His musical studies included a period at the National Conservatory at Havana, where one of his teachers was Joaquin Nin. He graduated from the Conservatory in 1911, but even before then had been interested in music in a popular vein, and had organised a small orchestra to play in ballrooms and the early cinemas. He made his first record in 1917.

The above extract is from a book entitled "A Guide to Popular Music" by Peter Gammond and Peter Clayton published in the U.K. in 1960 by Phoenix House.

He died on the Canary Islands when vacationing and attending to a concert in his honor.