Born at 7 West Road, Elgin, on June 29, 1913, Robert Inglis displayed an early proficiency on the piano, and at 15 years old he was leading his own dance band, reputedly earning £10 a week.

A potential career as a dental technician was put aside, and by the mid 1930s he was leading a five-piece band, The Melodymakers, at the Oakwood Roadhouse. In 1935, they won the Melody Maker Dance Band competition for the North-east of Scotland, with Robert taking the prize for best musician - and the road south, leaving the band in the lurch and minus its transport.

In 1937, studying at the Royal Academy of Music, he met Edmundo Ros, who later recruited 'Bertie' as his pianist before renaming him Roberto Inglez. They opened in August, 1940, at the Cosmo Club in Wardour Street, but such was the success of the music they soon outgrew the premises.

Roberto was ambitious, and soon left the Edmundo Ros band to form his own small group. By 1946, his band had secured a residency at the Savoy Hotel.

He began recording in 1945, his records also being released in South America to phenomenal sales. 100 discs featuring his orchestra were issued between 1946 and 1954, many becoming best sellers, with monthly sales of 25,000. Indeed, 'Rio de Janeiro' sold more than 400,000 copies in Brazil alone.

In 1952 he was lured to Brazil for a net fee of £1,000 a week for a six-week tour which wowed audiences in Rio and San Paulo and led to even greater record sales.

Moray musician Robert Inglis, or Roberto Inglez as he became known, learned to play Latin American music better than the South Americans.

By 1954 he had emigrated to Chile, broadcasting regularly and touring South America and the USA, including an engagement at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

The boy from Elgin was at the height of his career, earning £35,000 a year in 1956, living in a luxury penthouse in Santiago and ever present on the radio, his broadcasts often immediately preceding speeches by President Peron - thereby ensuring that the political leader an audience.

Later, he had a television series called 'The Piano in the Kitchen' which introduced many Chileans to European food. He became manager of A&R Records in South America, and worked for the Pinochet government. Unfortunately, his workaholic lifestyle took its toll and he died of a massive heart attack in Santiago on September 5, 1977, just five days before the birth of his second son, Bobby. His first son, Garry, was born more than 40 years earlier.

Roberto Inglez's death was marked by the first ever hour-long memorial concert on Chilean TV.

As Pauline Taylor wrote in a fascinating article in 'The Northern Scot' on July 27, 2001. "A great musician had died: a man born in Elgin but almost forgotten in his native land."

Robert Inglis and other Moravians who made their mark nationally and internationally are celebrated in Moray Connections, www.morayconnections.com, the website which brings together Moray's key heritage organisations, highlights the lives of people from Moray and shows how to discover your family history using Moray's resources and services.

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