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He felt drawn to music as a child. At the age of 14, Segundo learned to play the typical Cuban string instrument the tres, later adding the guitar. As a teenager, Segundo came to Santiago de Cuba to be fascinated by the cultural life of the big city. There he met the musician Miguel Matamoros, who had a decisive influence on his future career. As the leader of the music band in the city of Santiago, Segundo came to Havana in 1929 to gradually appear as a musician in bars and public places. Since he couldn't live on his own, the musician also began working as a hairdresser and cigar roller in the Cuban capital. In collaboration with famous musicians such as Sindo Garay, Nico Saquito, Miguel Matamaros and Benny Moré, Segundo revived the tradition of the Cuban "Son", which as a special musical style goes back to the struggle for the liberation of black slaves.
From the mid-1930s, Segundo created his own, unique style of the Cuban "Son": on a self-made instrument, the seven-string "Harmonico" guitar, the musician ensured the spread of the "Son", which he used in the songs he knew of the Cuban farmers. Segundo composed hundreds of songs that are now part of the "Son" standard repertoire. In 1939 Segundo joined the group "El Conjunto Matamaros". Towards the end of the 1940s he founded the duo "Los Compadres" with Lorenzo Hierrezuelo, in which he appeared for the first time under the stage name Compay Segundo. When Segundo was called to the Dominican Republic for an engagement in 1953, the duo broke up. In the following decades, the musician appeared as an ambassador for Cuban music in numerous countries around the world. In 1956, Segundo founded his own group under the name "Compay Segundo y sus Muchachos", which soon expanded from a trio to a quartet.
The band developed - not least with the participation of his son Salvador Repilado - into one of the largest Cuban groups in the classic "Son" tradition. With his participation in the "Buena Vista Social Club", Segundo only celebrated his breakthrough with a worldwide audience in 1997, i.e. at the age of 90, as the first recording of a record and his participation in the film of the same name by Wim Wenders led to the general popularization of the artist contributed. After his records sold over a million copies, Segundo received a record award in 2000. In the same year, the musician met Cuban leader Fidel Castro. He also met Pope John Paul II on one of his tours to Italy.
Compay Segundo died in Havana on July 14, 2003 at the age of 95. He left behind his life partner Aidita and a worldwide audience of millions of mourning fans.
