Ruben González: In his glory days, towards the end of his life, he always seemed an unlikely celebrity. A small, hunched man in his 80s, with cropped grey hair and a little moustache, he would shuffle on stage at some prestigious festival or concert hall, sit down at the piano and demonstrate, with obvious delight, his quite extraordinary playing - his delicate tone, impeccable sense of rhythm and sudden, rapid-fire exhilarating flourishes.
Ruben González, who has died aged 84 at home in Havana, was one of the legends of Cuban music, a man often referred to as "a national treasure", whose life was as colourful, vibrant and varied as his music.
He became a fulltime musician in his early 20s, but it was not until he turned 77 that he recorded his first solo album, at the time when he found unexpected global fame as part of that extraordinary Cuban success story, the Buena Vista Social Club.
González achieved this well-deserved new status just when he must have feared that his career was finished.
In 1976 he was living in unwanted retirement in Havana when he was approached by the Cuban musician and music historian Juan de Marcos González (no relation), who had decided to revive the lively, brassy style of the golden era of Cuban music, in the 1950s, and to coax some of the veterans from that era into the studio to join his band, the Afro-Cuban All-Stars.
One was the singer Ibrahim Ferrer, who is now an international celebrity but at the time was making a living by cleaning shoes. Another was Ruben González. "He's a genius," de Marcos said later, "but he hadn't played for three years when I approached him. He didn't even have a piano. Now he has a good one, and he's rich by Cuban standards."
González made his comeback on the All-Stars album, A Toda Cuba Le Gusta, with exquisite playing on the experimental Clasiqueando Con Ruben, which was specially written for him. One outsider who played on the session was the American guitarist Ry Cooder, who then invited González and Ferrer to join him on a second project, for which he was acting as producer.
This was the Buena Vista Social Club, with that charming, low-key album that reintroduced classic Cuban styles to the world, and was to sell more than six million copies and transform many of the veterans into household names, with highly successful solo careers of their own.
It was helped by the Wim Wenders film about the project, which included a memorable scene of González playing while surrounded by young dancers.
He then released two solo albums, Introducing Ruben González (1997) and Chanchullo (2000), the first of which was recorded in just two days, with no overdubs. After those years in which he had had no chance to play the piano, it seemed that he was simply desperate to perform.
The two solo albums sold one million copies, helped by González's world concert tours, which included shows at the Royal Albert Hall and in Hyde Park in 2000. Meeting him during this tour, it was clear that his exuberance and passion for his work were as strong as ever; he seemed unhappy to be taken away from the piano even at the end of the sound check.
But his health was beginning to fail. He suffered from lung and kidney problems and was no longer able to work alongside his Buena Vista colleagues. His final appearance was in Mexico last year. Compay Segundo, a guitarist and the band's lead singer, died aged 95 earlier this year.
Before this late international success, González had already played with many of the great names in Cuban music, in a career that spanned six decades. Born in Santa Clara, in central Cuba, the son of a cobbler, he studied classical music and medicine, but decided not to be a doctor "because they have to be on call all the time".
He became a professional musician after moving to Havana in 1941, at the start of a classic era of Cuban music, and soon began working with many of the major orchestras. In 1943 he recorded with the blind bandleader Arsenio Rodríguez, who encouraged him not to imitate others but to develop his own style.
He then left to work with, among others, Les Estrellas Negras (the Black Stars), so called because "we were all black, but I was the lightest". He performed in Panama and Argentina and back in Cuba appeared at all the major Havana dance halls, including the legendary Tropicana, often playing lengthy sets that would continue until the early hours of the morning.
In the 1960s, he became pianist with the orchestra of Enrique Jorrin, the composer credited with creating the cha-cha-cha rhythm and, in the 1970s, he joined an all-star line-up for the Las Estrellas de Areito recordings, recently reissued in the west.
After Jorrin's death, in the 1980s, González took over as band director. But he did not enjoy the role and soon retired, at a time when the piano he had used for many years had finally crumbled away.
Little did he know that massive international success was still to come. His wife Eneida survives him.