Feliciano Vierra Tavares

Who was Feliciano Vierra Tavares?

Feliciano Vierra "Flash" Tavares Sr. was a Cape Verdean American musician, singer and guitar player 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.

Tavares was born in Providence, Rhode Island. 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.