Francisco Gustavo S�nchez Gomes, known as Paco de Luc�a, was a Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist, composer and producer. A leading proponent of the New Flamenco style, he helped legitimize flamenco among the establishment in Spain, and was one of the first flamenco guitarists to have successfully crossed over into other genres of music such as classical and jazz. Richard Chapman and Eric Clapton, authors of Guitar: Music, History, Players, describe de Luc�a as a "titanic figure in the world of flamenco guitar", and Dennis Koster, author of Guitar Atlas, Flamenco, has referred to de Luc�a as "one of history's greatest guitarists." De Luc�a was noted for his fast and fluent picados. A master of contrast, he often juxtaposed picados and rasgueados with more sensitive playing and was known for adding abstract chords and scale tones to his compositions with jazz influences. These innovations saw him play a key role in the development of traditional Flamenco and the evolution of 'New Flamenco' and Latin jazz fusion from the 1970s. 

December 21st, 1947 in Algeciras  /  Died:   Feb 25th, 2014 - aged 66