Raúl Paz left Cuba in 1993, went to South America and then wound up in Paris, France, to study at the Schola Cantorum.
He was then spotted by Ralph Mercado, founder of the RMM label, and recorded his first album, Cuba Libre, in Gloria Estefan's studio in Miami.
Renamed Imaginate for the American market, the record was a hit, selling some 100,000 copies and earning him the accolade "Best new male artist" in the US music press.
The song was also on the official soundtrack album of the German film Das merkwürdige Verhalten geschlechtsreifer Großstädter zur Paarungszeit.
In 2005, Alfredo Arias gave Raúl Paz a leading part in Mambo Mystico, his last musical at the Théâtre national de Chaillot.