Tomasito Cruz was born in Havana and from a very young age proved his talents in music. A gifted musician, singer and songwriter Tomasito was raised in Pinar del Rio, Cuba where he attended a vocational school for the Arts “Escuela Vocacional De Arte Raul Sanchez” from the tender age of 8. At age 14 he was admitted to the prestigious National School of Arts “Escuela Nacional De Arte de Cuba {ENA}” in Havana. With prodigal abilities in music he studied piano, trombone, and percussion, as well as vocals. By the age of 19, the talented Tomasito was recruited by top Cuban band, Paulito FG y Su Elite. After a couple of years of touring internationally with the popular band, he chose to seek exile in Miami while the band was performing on US territory.

Miami was welcoming to Tomasito’s talent and quite promptly he was earning a living in South Florida as a musician. Holding down multiple jobs, during the day he performed as the conga player alongside the house band on a TV and at night he was a regular at a Miami Beach club. His talent was soon recognized by the well-known Celia Cruz which took him in as her orchestra’s conga player. As the youngest member of the band, Celia Cruz and her husband and manager Pedro Knight served as role models for the young artist. Pedro Knight often advised Tomasito to “soar higher” and taking Pedro’s words to heart, he was soon accompanying some of the biggest names in the Latin music industry performing with Willy Chirino, Israel Lopez “Cachao,” and ultimately enjoying a 4 year tenure with Arturo Sandoval.