American musician and vocalist Edmundo Ros has died at his home in Spain at the age of 100, the Grand Order of Water Rats showbusiness fraternity said Saturday. “He died last night peacefully at his home in Spain, two months short of his 101st birthday”, said secretary John Adrian, adding that he had died of old age. Ros was the most accomplished man of his generation in the field and the infectious beat of his world-famous rumba band was a cheering sound in wartime Britain and the post-war austerity years. Edmundo Ros and his Orchestra made hundreds of recordings and sold millions of records. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, then a princess, made her first public dance to the music of Ros's band in the 1940s. Ros was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on Dec. 1910. His mother was Venezuelan while his father was of Scottish origin. He lived in Venezuela for 10 years and played in the Venezuelan Military Academy Band and the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra. He later studied harmony, composition and orchestration at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
