As legend goes, there was a night in the late ’80s when Princess Diana was hellbent on joining her friends Freddie Mercury, DJ and TV host Kenny Everett, and actress Cleo Rocos for a night out at the notorious London gay bar Royal Vauxhall Tavern.
Knowing she’d need a good disguise, the group came up with a ruse to dress Lady Di in “male drag”—a camouflage jacket, leather cap, and a pair of aviator sunglasses. Surprisingly, it worked. And really, it’s only because the friends had the gumption to hatch the idea after some cocktails and dancing to the vibrant flamenco-rumba of the Gipsy Kings and wanted to keep the party going.
Whether that story is true or not, you’d have to ask Rocos, who first shared details of the night in her 2013 biography. But what is for sure true is that the beloved royal really did love losing herself to the rhythm of legendary Gipsy Kings songs like “Bamboléo.”
“We had heard through various sources that Lady Diana used to love dancing to Gipsy Kings,” affirmed the band’s manager Ray Levy. To this day, he still has a letter from Kensington Palace thanking him for sending over some CDs and saying how much the princess loved them.
It’s just one of many fond memories Levy and band leader Tonino Baliardo bring up while discussing Gipsy Kings’ near-50-year career and expressing how much there is still to come. On March 14, the legendary music group will kick off a U.S. tour followed by their new album Historia out May 15, the same day that Amazon Prime will debut the first-ever documentary on the band and their incredible story that begins in Arles, France in the 1970s.
Gipsy Kings were born as a family act looking to keep alive the musical traditions of their Spanish Romani roots, offering a combination of flamenco, rumba, pop, and salsa and Spanish/Catalan/French lyrics, often performed in the streets as a communal celebration. The earliest iteration began with a duo of cousins, José Reyes and Ricardo Baliardo (better known as Manitas de Plata), who were born into a nomadic caravan in Southern France after their parents fled Spain in the 1930s during the height of the Spanish Civil War.
Over his career, de Plata would become a world-renowned guitar player whose praises were sung by everyone from John Steinbeck to Marlon Brando, Salvador Dali, and Pablo Picasso. In fact, the Cubist visionary once drew on de Plata’s guitar and immortalized the musician in one of his stylistic portraits.
“We’d like to know where it is,” joked Tonino Baliardo, speaking through a translator, about the influence his uncle had on him. “He was the original Gipsy King, taking our music to the world, and it was inspiring to see someone with just an acoustic guitar, getting so much attention. My uncle told me to just keep going, and that you do this for the love of the music itself.”
Soon, de Plata teamed up with his cousin Reyes who provided vocals and rhythmic palmas. Around the same time, Reyes began performing with his sons, Nicolas, François, André, Patchaï, and Pablo—and when Reyes died in 1979, the sons believed the only way to carry on his legacy was to keep the act going. They invited their cousins Diego, Paco, and Tonino into the fold and called themselves the Gipsy Kings. In the beginning, the troupe traveled around the south of France, packing up their instruments to serenade revelers at restaurants, weddings, and beaches.
“People knew that when we would grab our guitars, that meant we would start singing. And they’d all say, you’ve got to hear them,” recalled Baliardo.
Summers were especially important, a time when Provence and the Côte d’Azur region would be crawling with tourists and celebrities.
Because it wasn’t just Picasso and Diana Spencer who loved the music of the Gipsy Kings. There was also Brigitte Bardot. The French icon fell in love with the act when she saw them in Saint-Tropez in the ’80s and offered an invitation to play her birthday party where the guests were none other than Charlie Chaplin, Tony Curtis, and Roman Polanski.
“She met us when we weren’t known at all,” said Baliardo. “We were just in Saint-Tropez, hanging around, and she would invite us to almost all her parties because she loved the music so much. It was a really special connection.”
Levy jumped in to add that there is a special part in the documentary about this relationship, which inspired the Gipsy Kings’ 1982 song “La Dona,” that translates to “the lady.” “I don’t want to give it away, but there is a slice about Brigitte and Tonino and it’s great. It’s really fascinating,” he teased.
When Levy discovered the act, they were still living in a caravan underneath a motorway, but he believed in them and had a “gut feeling” he could bring the act to a global stage. It happened by 1987 with Gipsy Kings’ self-titled third album that featured songs like “Bamboléo” and “Djobi Djoba” and was certified gold in numerous countries. Not only France but also the U.K. and America (where it was released a year later); the album also spent 40 weeks on the Billboard 200, a feat for a Spanish-language album at the time.
Of course, nowadays, Latin music is dominating the charts, with acts like Gipsy Kings crashing the gates. “I think and hope that Gipsy Kings opened the doors to Spanish music being on the radio,” said Baliardo. “When we started in the music industry years ago, that wasn’t happening. And now it’s very present.”
“When we first released ‘Bamboléo’ many years ago, it took a year to get one play on BBC Radio,” Levy recalled. “They said, ‘We will never play this. What are they singing about? Who are these guys? We only play English lyrics.’ It was frowned upon, but it happened. And then the whole world came around to it.”
Levy could sense it when Gipsy Kings played London’s Royal Albert Hall for the first time in 1989 and Eric Clapton and George Michael showed up. “It was a who’s who. It still is,” said Levy. Ever since, Gipsy Kings have racked up a long list of prolific admirers, sold 25 million albums, been nominated for eight Grammys (winning one), had their flamenco covers of the Eagles and Randy Newman appear in Hollywood movies, and enjoyed sold-out tours around the world including a lauded 2024 appearance at Glastonbury Festival for 10,000 eager fans. “It’s been an incredible journey,” added Levy. “But they’re still the same guys that are here now. We’re all one big family.”
That is a thread that continues on the band’s latest album, Historia, a celebration of the time and place and people that inspired the group long ago—whether it’s the buoyant “El Campo” that celebrates Romani life or the upbeat dance number “Señorita” about the innocence of children. That’s something Baliardo witnessed with his own sons when they were little; now grown, they play alongside their father in the current lineup of the Gipsy Kings, and he knows the group’s legacy is safe in their hands for the day when he’s not here. “They embody gypsy music and know what it’s all about,” said Baliardo.
Loss was something he had to think about when making Historia; his brother, Paco, passed away in April 2025, and the guitar instrumental “Cielo” was written in his memory. “When my brother was in the hospital, sick, I just started playing and that’s what came out,” said Baliardo. “It came from the heart.”
But it’s the emotional Spanish guitar song “La Guerra” that really represents what Gipsy Kings is about to the rest of the world. “It’s a song about peace with all the wars happening around us,” said Baliardo, proud that his music can bring so many people together, regardless of language or political barriers.
“We play from a place of emotion, we don’t overthink it,” said Baliardo. “And I think that translates and talks to many generations of people that maybe don’t have the same opinions, or whatever it may be. We have always been about unity.”
This interview was conducted with a translator, and some adjustments have been made for clarity.
