Francisco Canaro was a Uruguayan violinist and tango orchestra leader.
Canaro was born in San José de Mayo, Uruguay, in 1888. His parents were Italian immigrants, and later, when he was less than 10 years old, they emigrated to Buenos Aires, Argentina in the late nineteenth century. As a young man he found work in a factory, where an empty oil can, in his skilled hands, became his first violin. Performing in seedy bars initially, he ultimately forged a career that spanned many decades, and his orchestra was one of the most recorded. His introduction to the tango came by orquesta típica leader Vicente Greco in 1908, and in 1912 he composed "Pinta brava". Canaro composed the music for the 1915 Argentine classic film Nobleza gaucha. He later was romantically attached to Argentine actress and tango vocalist Ada Falcón, but the relationship, which began in the early 1920s, grew apart a decade later.
In 1920 Canaro discovered Azucena Maizani, who rapidly developed into a major tango star.