As a teenage violin prodigy, under the name Francis Cugat, he toured in concert with Enrico Caruso.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 218-219. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.
Cugat's father, a political prisoner, was pardoned just after Cugat's birth, and Cugat and his brothers were all exempted from military service.
He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 1500 Vine Street and for Recording at 1601 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.
Spanish-born bandleader who popularized the rumba in America.