Name Feliciano Tavares | Died December 17, 2008 | |
Feliciano Vierra "Flash" Tavares Sr. (October 29, 1920 – December 17, 2008) was a Cape Verdean American musician, singer and guitarist based in Massachusetts. He was the patriarch of the musical Tavares family, which included the Tavares Brothers, a successful Grammy-winning 1970s and 1980s R&B band composed of five of Tavares' sons. Tavares was known professionally simply as Flash.
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Early life
Tavares was born in Providence, Rhode Island on October 29, 1920. He was a self-taught musician who learned by listening to the radio and Cape Verdean music at an early age. Tavares, a longtime resident of Hyannis, Massachusetts, was considered to be an influential cultural figure within the Cape Verdean American community in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The father of all five members of Tavares, whose hits included More Than a Woman and Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel, Tavares advocated for traditional Cape Verdean music. Following his death in 2008, it was noted that "Flash inspired a lot of kids to play music, and he kept the Cape Verdean musical heritage alive." Tavares remained active within the musical community well into his 80s, in spite an early diagnosis of prostate cancer. He was able to travel to Cape Verde and continued to perform solo until he was 84 years old. In 2007, Tavares and his sister, singer Vicki Vierra, were inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Cape Verdean museum in East Providence, Rhode Island.
Death
Feliciano "Flash" Vierra Tavares died at his home in Hyannis, Massachusetts, on December 17, 2008, at the age of 88. He was survived by his second wife of 38 years, Grace. His first wife, Albina Gomes Tavares (1913–1981, the mother of the five Tavares brothers), and daughter, Eva Baptiste, as well as 10 siblings had predeceased him. He was also survived by three daughters Jenny Mello, Deolinda Borges, Kathleen Clarke; seven sons (including all five members of the Tavares brothers) John Baptiste, Ralph, Arthur, Antone, Victor, Feliciano Jr., and Perry Tavares; one sister, Victoria Tavares Vierra; and 41 grandchildren, 63 great-grandchildren and 16 great-great grandchildren.
Tavares, a 35-year member of the Bahai community of Barnstable, Massachusetts, was buried at St. Francis Xavier Cemetery in Centerville, Massachusetts.