[4] After a member of the trio left for the military service, Larrea joined the Bilbao-based dance orchestra La Terraza.
[2] Larrea and his partners reformed the trio before finally disbanding in 1936 due to the start of the Spanish Civil War while they were playing in Jerez de la Frontera.
Motivated by his friend Mariano Méndez Vigo, Larrea wrote a song for the radio programme El Tribunal de la Canción.
[3][4][6] He then penned "Camino verde", a song performed by Angelillo in the 1955 film Suspiros de Triana, directed by Ramón Torrado.
[10] During his time he was compared to songwriters such as Agustín Lara, Charles Trenet, Osvaldo Farrés and Bobby Capó due to the fact that he wrote both the music and the lyrics of his songs.
[3] In 2011, a garden in Bilbao was named after him, concerts took place in his honour and his biography –Carmelo Larrea (1907-1980) Compositor de boleros universales– was published.