Best of the Gipsy Kings

Limited double vinyl LP pressing. The initial success of this 18-track collection, chronicling the first seven years of the group's Nonesuch career, illustrated just how popular the Gipsy Kings had become: It held the top spot on the World Music charts for a full year. Over the years the Gipsy Kings-whose members hail from the gypsy settlements in Arles and Montpelier in the south of France-have included singers and guitarists from the Reyes (Canut, Nicolas, Pablo, and Patchai) and Baliardo families (Diego, Paco, and Tonino). Lead singer Nicolas Reyes is the son of famed Flamenco singer José Reyes, who, with Manitas de Plata, sold millions of records in the 1960s and '70s. The band's vigorous guitar work and passionate vocals are the trademarks of an indigenous musical tradition known as "rumba flamenca." There are no other examples of a non-English speaking band (the group's language is the Gypsy dialect of gitane) with such a consistent winning streak in the US, where the group is the biggest-selling French act ever. Since the 1987 release of the international hit single "Bamboleo," from their platinum-selling eponymous debut album, the Gipsy Kings have dominated the world music charts and sold more than 14 million albums worldwide-more than four million in the United States alone. Their platinum compilation, The Best of the Gipsy Kings, was on the charts for more than a year.