Lucho Gatica was born in Rancagua. He attended school at the Instituto O'Higgins. He and his brother Arturo were struggling singers before they released their first album in 1949, when Gatica was 21 years old. Chileans generally experienced a change in their taste in music during the 1950s, when the bolero overtook the tango as Chileans' preferred music genre.[citation needed] Singers like Cuba's Olga Guillot, Argentinian Leo Marini and Mexican Elvira Ríos, among others, became popular during that time. So were Xavier Cugat and his orchestra, which included Puerto Rican Bobby Capó. These singers would influence Gatica.