Dámaso Pérez Prado (December 11, 1916 in Cuba - September 14, 1989 in Mexico) was a Cuban bandleader and composer. He is commonly referred to as the "King of the Mambo". His mother was a school teacher, his father a newspaper man. He studied classical piano in his early childhood, and later played organ and piano in local clubs. For a time, he was pianist and arranger for the Sonora Matancera, Cuba's best known musical group. He also worked with casino orchestras in Havana for most of the 1940s, and gained a reputation for being an imaginative (his solo playing style predated bebop by at least five years), loud player. He was nicknamed "El Cara de Foca" ("Seal Face") by his peers at the time.