e was born in the neighborhood of Flores. He was the tenth child of Gaetano Di Lorenzo, an Italian immigrant who worked as military tailor, and María Romano, housewife. It is worth mentioning that when his father arrived in Argentina his family name was wrongly recorded and Di Lorenzo was changed into De Lorenzo.

He attended grade school at the Don Bosco school and was also boy-scout. When he was a kid his parents sent him to study piano and at age thirteen, still wearing short pants, he played his tango repertoire as background for the silent movies at the Cine Teatro Fénix.

It was by that time when the young pianist acquired his nickname. In fact, every evening when he came back home –after playing tangos as background music for the movies- his pockets were full with paper money and coins that attracted his parents’ attention. This worried Gaetano in such a way that he decided to see the owner of the movie theater to talk about it. His Dad had thought that his son was involved in strange things. His surprise was big when the impresario told him that the money that Enrique had was the small amount he paid him and what people, satisfied with his performance, used to leave for him on the piano. And later he said the defining sentence: «Don’t worry, sir. This kid is a golden boy».

Once, my aunt María Enriqueta —Enrique’s daughter— told me that in Colombia, when she was six years old and her father was performing in Bogotá, the latter took her to the theater to see Carlos Gardel. After the show they went to say hello to the Zorzal Criollo in his dressing room. She was amazed when she saw Gardel in a gaucho costume with a grey jacket embroidered with flowers, with boots and wearing a belt with silver coins round his waist. And bigger was her surprise when the singer kissed her. That image remained forever in her memory.

But the most important aspect of this anecdote was that, due to Fate, Enrique had to travel on the same plane of the tragedy and, at the last minute, he was signed to appear in Bogotá and that saved his life. Furthermore, he was in the last photo of Gardel at the airport of the Colombian capital.

Few are the evidences we have of his long career because he carried out the greatest portion of it abroad but we have gathered some isolated aspects of his career which we shall mention below.

Still a teenager, he was seventeen, he joined the Eduardo Arolas orchestra with which he traveled to Montevideo.

In the early days of radio broadcasting he appeared on different radio stations: Radio Cultura and LOY. Also in 1923 he made his first trip to Chile and, in the early 1929 he returned to the country beyond the Andes now leading his own aggregation. It was there and that year when his only daughter, María Enriqueta, was born. Thereafter, for a decade he toured nearly all the countries of Central and South America.

On March 20, 1928 he recorded two numbers for the Victor company: “Rawson”, disc 80815-A (BAVE 44010) and “Falsa [b]” by Alejandro Torres, 80815-B (BAVE 44011). Also he recorded for Brünswick, disc 40711, his waltz “Claro de luna” with the Spanish tenor José Moriche —who was starred with Carlos Gardel in the movie El tango en Broadway— and Genaro Veiga, teaming up as duo, on vocals. On the other side of the disc: “No quiero besarte”, a charleston by Alejandro Torres, sung by José Moriche and the Cuban female singer Pilar Arcos.

He was one of the founders, in 1936, of the Sociedad Argentina de Autores y Compositores (SADAIC).

By that time, 1939, he put together a group to play at the Tabarís on Corrientes Street, with José Basso on piano and Alberto Lago on vocals. They also appeared at the Cabaret Imperio on Suipacha and Lavalle. Besides those appearances he frequently traveled to Chile, Uruguay and other countries of Latin America, always with a wide public acclaim and recognition by the press.

In the early 40s he was on Radio Prieto accompanying the debut of Carlos Braga. The latter’s true name was Carlos Mateo Gardella and later would take his definitive stage name: Carlos Saavedra, who, between 1946 and 1950, had his best time as orchestra singer with Rodolfo Biagi.

As composer some of his pieces stand out and, except his waltz “Claro de luna”, I don’t know if the ones below were committed to record: “Pobre piba”; “Decí que sí”; “Eterna soledad” and “Oye las campanas” with words by Orlando Salatini; “Revista médica”; “El amor es así” and “Negra Inés” both with words by Francisco Mitjana; “No se case” with lyrics by Enrique Cadícamo.

El Pibe de Oro, an indefatigable tango ambassador in the American continent, continued working until a stroke put an end to his show business career. Soon thereafter he died at age fifty-one in Buenos Aires downtown.

His remains rest in the SADAIC pantheon at the La Chacarita cemetery. Amado Simone, member of the board of the entity, made a farewell speech with a phrase that well describes his artistic impulse: «His traveling spirit got his luggage ready one day and with the fortune of his twenty years and a tango beat in his heart he left Corrientes Street to tour nearly all the countries of Central and South America. And everywhere he was a winner».