Ferrer was born at a dance club in San Luis, near the city ofSantiago de Cuba. His mother died when he was 12, leaving him orphaned and forcing him to sing on the streets to earn money. The following year, Ferrer joined his first ever musical group—a duet with his cousin—called Jovenes del Son. They performed at private functions and the two youths managed to scrape together enough money to live.
Career
Over the next few years, Ferrer would perform with many musical groups, including Conjunto Sorpresa and Chepín y su Orquesta Oriental. As lead singer of the latter, Ferrer recorded in 1956 his biggest hit: "El platanal de Bartolo". In 1961, he also sang lead for Mario Patterson y su Orquesta Oriental on "Cariño falso", a standard of the guaracha repertoire.
Los Bocucos
In 1953, Ferrer began performing with Pacho Alonso's group in Santiago, Cuba. In 1959, the group moved permanently to Havana, renaming themselves Los Bocucos, after a type of drum widely used in Santiago, the bocú. With Alonso, Ferrer primarily performed sones, guarachas and other up-tempo songs. However, he yearned to sing boleros. Ferrer remained a member of Los Bocucos until his retirement in 1991. Starting in 1967, Los Bocucos became an independent group, since Pacho Alonso started a new band, Los Pachucos. Since then, Ferrer began to sing lead more often, instead of performing as a backing singer. The group released several LPs in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1998, Cuban label EGREM released on CD Tierra caliente, a compilation of tracks recorded by Los Bocucos between 1970 and 1988, featuring Ferrer as lead singer. The songs were directed and arranged by Roberto Correra, the group's lead trumpeter.
Career revival
In 1996, Ferrer took part in Nick Gold’s World Circuit sessions, when it was announced that an old-style bolero singer would be required. He first participated in the recording of the album A Toda Cuba le Gusta with the Afro-Cuban All Stars, which was nominated for a Grammy Award. This project was immediately followed by the recording of Ry Cooder's Grammy Award winning Buena Vista Social Club album, which showcased Ferrer's talent as a bolero singer and made him widely known outside Cuba. In 1999, Ry Cooder recorded Ferrer's first solo album. In 2000, Ferrer, at the age of 72, received a Latin Grammy for Best New Artist. In 2001, he appeared on the track "Latin Simone " on the self-titled debut album of virtual bandGorillaz. Following Ferrer's death, Gorillaz played the song live as a tribute to him at concerts in 2005 and 2006, and again in 2018. In 2004, Ferrer won a Grammy, but was denied permission by the U.S. government to enter the U.S. to receive his award" as a result of extremely restrictive visa laws enacted in the wake of 9/11. Ferrer released his second solo recording, Buenos Hermanos, in 2003 and continued touring in Europe into 2005. Ferrer's contributed in 2005 to the APE Vision Artists Project Earth album Rhythms Del Mundo: Cuba, a collaboration with artists Coldplay, U2, Sting, Dido, Faithless, Jack Johnson, Maroon 5 and others. Ferrer's last recording was Mi sueño, an album devoted to the bolero. It was released posthumously in 2006. Ferrer was posthumously featured in the Gorillaz documentary filmsBananaz and Reject False Icons in 2008 and 2019, respectively.
