Lionel Belasco

Lionel Belasco Maracaibo (Venezuela) 1881 – c. 24 June 1967) was an American pianist, composer and bandleader, best known for his calypso recordings.

Biography
According to various sources, Belasco was born in Maracaibo (Venezuela), the son of an Afro-Caribbean mother and a Sephardic Jewish father. He spent his early childhood in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and grew up in Trinidad. He traveled widely in the Caribbean and South America in his youth, absorbing a wide variety of musical influences. He was leading his own band by 1902, and made his first phonograph recordings in Trinidad in 1914.