Felipe Staiti, the guitarist and songwriter who co-founded the Argentine rock band Enanitos Verdes in November 1979, died April 13, 2026, at Hospital Italiano in Mendoza, Argentina, from a massive hemorrhage. He was 64. The band announced his death on social media the following day, describing it as an irreparable loss and requesting privacy for the family’s mourning period.
Born Aug. 29, 1961, in Mendoza, Staiti began his musical education at age nine when he entered the Instituto Cuyano de Cultura Musical, where he composed “Canoa,” his first piece. Influenced by bands like Deep Purple during his teenage years, he formed his first project, Esencia Natural, before creating Enanitos Verdes with Marciano Cantero and Daniel Piccolo.
Staiti was hospitalized with a fever after returning to Mendoza from a performance at La Santa in Santa Ana, California, on April 11. The band had 20 additional tour dates scheduled for 2026, including upcoming shows in Hawthorne and Carson, California. His sudden death stunned fans and the Latin music industry alike.
With Staiti’s passing, none of the three original members who started Enanitos Verdes in 1979 remain in the lineup. Cantero, the band’s original frontman and bassist, died in September 2022, less than four years before Staiti. Piccolo, the third original member and drummer, had long since stepped away from touring.
Staiti’s final major festival appearance occurred at Vive Latino 2026 on March 14 at Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City. Performing alongside bassist Guillermo Vadalá and drummer Jota Morelli, he delivered a 10-song set that opened with “Guitarras Blancas” and included fan favorites like “La Muralla Verde,” “Mi primer día sin ti” and “Amores lejanos.” During several of the most recognizable choruses, the crowd sang loudly enough to fill the spaces once occupied by Cantero’s voice.
The band achieved national recognition in 1984 when they were named Grupo Revelación at the Festival de La Falda. The group expanded to a quintet that same year with guitarist Sergio Embrioni and keyboardist Tito Dávila joining, and they recorded their debut album. By the mid-1990s, Enanitos Verdes had become one of the defining acts of rock en español.
Staiti wrote “Mejor No Hablemos de Amor,” one of the standout tracks on the band’s 1994 album “Big Bang,” which also produced “Lamento Boliviano.” That song — a cover of a track by the band Alcohol Etílico — was transformed by Cantero’s voice, Andean panpipe instrumentation, and a guitar solo by Staiti that gave it international reach. According to Apple Music, it is the most-streamed Argentine rock song of all time, and it recently surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, making it arguably the most recognized Argentine rock track ever recorded.
Over four decades, the group released 14 studio albums and scored entries on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums and Hot Latin Songs charts.
Following Cantero’s death, Staiti assumed the lead vocal role and performed publicly for the first time as the band’s singer at the Bésame Mucho Festival at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in December 2022. When asked about the transition, he was candid about his approach:
“I’m an interpreter. I’m not trying to be Marciano or sing like Marciano, which would be impossible,” Staiti once said. “What I do is more an interpretation of the songs.”
Staiti also led the Felipe Staiti Trio, where he explored more instrumental and experimental sounds. In 2025, the trio toured alongside Spanish rock group Hombres G, with a full slate of dates lined up for 2026.
Enanitos Verdes has not yet announced whether the group will continue. Organizers of the Rock en Lima festival, where the band was scheduled to perform on June 28, confirmed the act has been removed from the lineup, stating that “the legacy of Enanitos Verdes is impossible to replace.”
The band’s official statement confirmed that Staiti’s family has chosen not to hold a wake or public ceremony. “His music, his dedication, and his story remain forever with us and with all those who accompanied him throughout these years,” the statement read.
Across Latin America, musicians, cultural figures, and fans flooded social media with tributes to Staiti, honoring a career spanning more than 45 years that helped define rock en español. With his death, one of the genre’s most enduring stories has reached its final chapter.
