The late Cuban singer Beny Moré is regarded by many as the greatest salsa singer ever. He was born with an innate sense of musical style and a voice that stood out from the others. His use of phrasing and expressiveness in his singing is what gave rise to a great deal of his popularity. He sang all types (or genres) of Cuban music, including son montuno, guaracha, guajira, cha cha cha, Afro-Cuban, guaguanco and bolero.

Beny Moré was the oldest of 18 children in his family. He was born Bartholomé Moré in central Cuba in the town of Santa Isabel de las Lajas, located in the former province of Las Villas.

His maternal great-great grandfather, Ta Ramón Gundo Paredes, was said to be the son of the king of a tribe in the Congo. Family history was that Paredes, captured by slave traders, was sold to a Cuban plantation owner. He was later liberated and died as a freeman at the age of 64.

Beny taught himself to play the guitar by fashioning an instrument out of a board and a ball of string. He later bought himself his first guitar from money he had earned by cutting sugar cane in Cuba. He earned his living playing in bars and cafes, passing the hat for money. He entered many talent shows and finally won an appearance on a local Cuban radio show. He eventually joined the famous group, Trio Matamoros and ended up playing at two of the biggest nightclubs in Mexico: the Montparnasse and the Rio Rosa. It was around this time that he changed his name to Beny Moré. A star in Mexico, Brazil, Panama, Colombia and Puerto Rico, he returned to Cuba at the end of 1950. However, despite his renown in other countries, Beny was a virtual unknown in his homeland.

Moré recorded with the Orquesta Aragón in 1952, and decided that he would perform with this group in the dance halls. Orquesta Aragón was having trouble obtaining bookings from Havana dance halls because they were from Cienfuegos and Moré helped them with obtaining gigs.

Moré discovered that he was losing some gigs because he was black. Beny was furious. He contacted the agent of RCA Records in Cuba and told him he was not going to record again with the Orquesta Aragón. Beny decided to start his own orchestra.

The first performance of Moré's Banda Gigante (literally Giant Band, or Gigantic Band) was in the program Cascabeles Candado of the station CMQ. The Banda was a large ensemble of up to forty musicians, only comparable in size with the big band of Xavier Cugat.Although he could not read music, Moré arranged material by singing parts to his musicians.

Over the mid to late 1950s, the Banda Gigante became immensely popular. In 1956 and 1957, it toured Venezuela, Jamaica, Haiti, Colombia, Panama, Mexico and the U.S., where the group played at the Oscar ceremonies.

In the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, many of Cuba's top musical figures left, most for the US and some for Mexico. Monguito el Unico and Celia Cruz went to Mexico, but after a few years they moved to the US. The Charanga bands went to Miami and everyone else went to NYC, but Beny, the greatest of them all, stayed in Cuba, among as he said, "mi gente" - "my people".

When Beny died in 1963 of cirrhosis of the liver, an estimated 100,000 fans attended his funeral. He was only 43 years old.

His memory is honored in Cuba in September of every year by a festival in Cienfuegos that bears his name. Many Cuban singers refer to him in their songs.

Compay Segundo (Buena Vista Social Club) who knew Moré during the 1940s, described the man behind the music. "He was very tall and very black, he always wore a hat with a huge brim and he carried a cane," the veteran singer answered, "he was a showman and he was the greatest of them all. No one else came near."