Real name: Gladys Lourdes Margarita Carbo Ramiro Garcia y de la Torre

Effective period / Period of releases: 1990

NY-based Cuban singer a.k.a. Havana Carbo. Died in the Berkshires, Massachusetts, on October 25, 2015.

At age 3 she took to the piano and at 8 began formal lessons in Havana, where she was raised in an environment that celebrated music but viewed “nightclub” performing as inappropriate for a young lady. Jazz established residence in her soul during her NY High School years, but a budding career was cut short by marriage to a Cuban Economics major she met while a student at pre-Castro’s Villanova University in Havana.
But twenty years, three marriages and four children later, with life’s experiences as a bonus, Havana finally went home to her passion – music. In 1984, Carbo created “Havana Midnight”, a latin/jazz group devoted to her arrangements of Latin American classics from her past, and the group met with instant success in the Berkshires where she resided. She produced an EP (Another Summer), which led to being signed by Soul Note in 1987 to record her first solo CD, “Street Cries”. It featured Gene Bertoncini, Michael Moore, Marvin Stamm and John Sauer. In ‘89 she was awarded a Mass Arts Grant.

Carbo recorded or performed with such greats as Michael Moore, Jimmy Giuffre, Gene Bertoncini, Dario Eskenazi, Nilson Matta, Vince Cherico, John Benitez, Café, Chocolate Armenteros, Oriente Lopez, Helio Alves, Sean Smith, Diego Urcola, Edsel Gomez, Aaron Goldberg, John Di Martino, “El Negro”Hernandez, Café, LeoTraversa, the late Edson Machado, and a two-month run as vocalist with the legendary Chico O’Farrill Band.

Since moving to NY she has appeared in major clubs from NY to the Caribbean, South Beach and Paris; venues as varied as Birdland, 55BAR, Lenox Lounge, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smith College, Aaron Davis Hall, B.Smith’s, Lenox Lounge, Helsinki, the Barbados and Jamaica Jazz Festivals. Carbo has been featured guest on radio including WNYC, WFCR, WFDU, WBGO, WDNA Miami, XM Satellite Radio, WLUZ San Juan, and KLAS Jamaica. In the West Indies, the drink “Havana Carbo” was created in her honor at Kingston’s Redbones Blues Café.