Paulito FG Singers – Artists
Paulito FG, "El Sofocador": singer and leader of Paulo FG y su Élite (1992), one of the great names of timba. Live, he steered his band from gear to gear with hand signals.
About
Paulo Fernández Gallo, known as Paulito FG or "El Sofocador", was a Havana man through and through. At nineteen he took clarinet lessons at the Ignacio Cervantes conservatory, where his voice caught the attention of the Empresa Musical Benny Moré.
- First bands: he sang with Adalberto Álvarez y su Son, with Juan Carlos Alfonso's Dan Den and with Opus 13, where he helped make hits that fans still remember.
- La Élite (1992): in 1992 he founded Paulo FG y su Élite. The first album was Tú no me calculas (1993). Sofocándote stayed in the Cuban charts for more than 20 weeks.
- Con la conciencia tranquila (1997): released on Fania, with Entre dos amigos and De La Habana.
- Later work: among others Una vez más por amor (2000), Te deseo suerte (2002), the bolero album Ilusión (2005, Cubadisco award), Sin etiqueta (2010) and Abre que voy (2013). He acted in the film Vuelos prohibidos (2015) and directed the TV show Sonando en Cuba.
- Death: in early March 2025 he died in a car accident in Havana, aged 63. Shortly before, he had performed at the Festival de la Salsa.
On stage
Kevin Moore calls Paulito "by far the most spontaneous and quick-witted performer in the history of Timba". In 1998 he had a hand signal for each gear, and the rhythm section followed him at once. That let him build a song differently every time he played it live.
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