Background
Martínez was born to a Cuban mother and a Spanish father in Guantánamo on 16 February 1917.
Martínez was born to a Cuban mother and a Spanish father in Guantánamo on 16 February 1917.
He played in the Conjunto de Arsenio Rodríguez and Conjunto Chappottín. Together with Rubén González and Peruchín, he is said to have "forged the style of modem Cuban piano playing in the 1940s". He started playing music in local bands at age 17.
In 1937 he formed his own band, Los Champions de Lilí Martínez, which worked for the CMKS radio.
In 1943 he founded Louisiana Rareza del 43. He joined Arsenio Rodríguez"s conjunto in 1945 after the departure of Rubén González.
Martínez left Conjunto Chappotín in 1958. In the early 1960s he played with the group Estrellas de Chocolate, directed by Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros.
He then directed a band called Los Diablos Rojos in Holguín before officially retiring in 1967.
In 1983 he gave an improvised concert together with Chucho Valdés and Frank Fernández at the ICAIC. He died on 26 October 1990 in Havana and his remains were transferred to Guantánamo in 1995. He has been called "the greatest sonero pianist" by Chucho Valdés, and also cited as an influence by salsa pianists such as Papo Lucca, Larry Harlow and Eddie Palmieri.
In 1950, after Rodríguez decided to continue his career in New York, the members of his conjunto that remained in Havana formed Conjunto Chappottín, with Félix Chappottín as leader and trumpeter, Lilí Martínez as pianist and arranger, and Miguelito Cuní as lead vocalist.
