Antonio Cruz Llauna (14 July 1946 – 11 July 2025), known as Toni Cruz, was a Spanish television producer and singer. He was a member of the musical group '.

Life and career

Cruz was born 14 July 1946 in

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

, and relocated to

Canet de Mar Canet de Mar () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Comarques of Catalonia, ''comarca'' of the Maresme in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the coast between Arenys de Mar and Sant Pol de Mar. and el Montnegre ranges. It is a tour ...

as a teenager, where he met Josep Maria Mainat, with whom he would associate for the rest of his professional career. During the mid-1960s, the two formed the musical group ''The Blue Cabrits''. In 1968, Miquel Àngel Pasqual joined the project and La Trinca was born, one of the musical groups with the greatest impact in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

during the 1970s. In the 1980s, the band established themselves throughout Spain, appearing on national television. ''La Trinca'' separated at the beginning of the 1990s, Cruz, together with Mainat, dedicated himself to the world of television production, through the production company , which they founded in 1987. Gestmusic would later be integrated into

Endemol Endemol B.V. (stylized in all lowercase) was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted gen ...

, and Cruz was appointed President of Endemol-Spain. For nearly two decades, Cruz was at the helm of one of the production companies that has set the course of commercial television in Spain, through emblematic programs such as ''La parodia nacional'', ''

Crónicas Marcianas ''Crónicas marcianas'' (''Martian Chronicles'') was a Spanish late-night talk show produced by and broadcast by Telecinco from 1997 to 2005. It was directed and presented by , and had Miquel José and Jordi Roca, with whom Sardá had created ' ...

'' and, above all, ''

Operación Triunfo ''Star Academy'' is a Dutch-developed reality television talent show format that first aired in the Netherlands as ''Star Maker''. Format There are many versions of the show, each country having its own slight variations, but the basic conce ...

'' and ''Eurojunior''. Cruz died on 11 July 2025, at the age of 78.

References

External links

* * * * 1946 births 2025 deaths People from Girona 20th-century Spanish musicians 21st-century Spanish musicians Spanish television producers {{Spain-singer-stub