Singer-Songwriter Paulo FG Dies in Car Accident in Cuba

March 2, 2025

Popular Cuban singer-songwriter Pablo Fernández Gallo, better known as Paulo FG, died today at the age of 63 in a car accident on the Malecón in the capital, according to a report by Canal Clave of Cuban Television.

According to images published on the social network Facebook, his car collided with a bus.

Paulo Fernández Gallo represents the expressiveness of the Cuban people, blending various genres such as rock, ballad, jazz, and son, achieving a mixture full of innovative lyrics and improvisations that border on the brilliance of Cuban music, according to the Cuban website Ecured.

It also notes that his music includes a fabulous blend of popular roots, creativity, and contemporary sounds that make him unique, attractive, and always evocative.

Paulo FG was born on January 11, 1962 in Havana, and in his childhood he was influenced artistically by his mother, Cary Gall, who was a poetess, writer, and art instructor.

At age 18, he began taking clarinet lessons at the Ignacio Cervantes Music Conservatory. His voice caught the attention of his teachers and he switched to vocal performance, under the direction of Luis Carbonell, a great performer known as the watercolorist of Caribbean music.

He was discovered by renowned orchestra conductor Adalberto Álvarez at the cabarets Parisien at the Hotel Nacional and Salón Rojo at the Hotel Capri in the capital, and joined his ensemble, with which he had an extensive artistic career.

He was one of the founders of the Dan Den orchestra, directed by Juan Carlos Alfonso, a group that in its first year of launch swept all the national awards in popularity polls on the success charts.

Together they made famous the song "El humo o la vida," which would popularly become "Ceniza y colilla" because of the chorus that Paulo composed and popularized, after which he would become known as Paulito FG.

In 1989 he recorded with Opus 13, a group directed by maestro Joaquín Betancourt, a first album in which almost all the songs are of his own authorship, rapidly developing his talent as a performer and composer, according to Ecured.

With that group he made his first international performances at the Winter Festival in Finland and later on several stages in Mexico.

Shortly after his return to Cuba, he created his own group, Paulito FG y su Élite. His first album "Tú no me calculas" was recorded in 1993, a production of EGREM (Company of Recordings and Musical Editions) released in Havana and later in Tokyo, through a collaboration between Japanese producer Ryu Murakami with Sony, which was a true musical success in both countries.

Thereafter, the artist maintained a rapid career that led him to sign with the Magic Music record label and positioned him in the forefront of the national songbook, with numerous songs that remained among the favorites of the Cuban public.