La Lupe y Mongo Santamaría."A Benny Moré".

Born Guadalupe Victoria Yolí Raymond on December 23, 1939 in the barrio of San Pedrito, Santiago, Cuba. Her father was an worker at the local Bacardi distillery and was a major influence on her life and he strictly encouraged her to becme a school teacher. Just like her closest counterpart, Celia Cruz, she too was a schoolteacher before she became a singer.
She married in 1958 and formed a musical trio with her husband Eulogio "Yoyo" Reyes and another female singer. This group "The Tropicuba Trio" broke up with the marriage in 1960. She began to perform her own act at a small night club "La Red" in Havana and acquired a devoted following also appearing on radio. She released her first album "Con el Diablo en el Cuerpo" ("With the Devil Inside") on Discuba in 1961. Her expressive performances with their violent sexuality attracted criticism that she was a poor example to the revolutionary state, this led to professional difficulties which together with personal problems made it difficult to stay in Cuba.
In 1962 she found herself exiled to the United States. In New York City she performed at a cabaret, named "La Barraca", where she was discovered by Mongo Santamaria and started a new career, making more than 10 records in five years. Her passionate performances covered the range of Cuban music: son montuno, bolero, Guantanamera venturing into other Caribbean styles like merengue, boogaloo, golpe tocuyano, busamba, salsa. In the sixties she was the most acclaimed latin singer in New York City due her partnership with Tito Puente. She was the first Latin singer to sell out a concert at Madison Square Garden. She also did a wide variety of cover versions in either Spanish or accented English, including Yesterday, Dominique by The Singing Nun, "Twist & Shout", "Unchained Melody", "Fever" and "America" from from the play/film West Side Story.
A devout follower of Santeria, she continued to practice her religion regardless of the influence, fortune, and fame she had acquired throughout the height of her career. However due to the decision by her record label, Fania Records, to end her contract in the last 1970s (mainly because the label wanted to focus on the less controversial, yet comercially-successful Celia Cruz), she saw herself destitute by the early 1980s. After being healed miracously by a evangelical Christian faith healer, she abandoned her Santeria roots and became a born-again Christian. She died in the Bronx and was survived by her husband William Garcia, their daughter Rainbow, and her son Rene Camaro (whose father was Eulogio Reyes). She is interred in Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx.

In the 1990s, interest in her music was re-sparked when Pedro Almodóvar included "Puro Teatro", one of her boleros of love and breakup in his film classic Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Due to her similarities to American singer Judy Garland such as her strong, yet raspy voice, and her energetic and unpredectable stage performances, she has become an icon among many gays in Latin America and Spain.

In 2002, The New York City renamed East 140th Street in The Bronx as La Lupe Way in her memory.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• La
• Lupe
• Mongo
• Santamaría
• Benny
• Moré
• salsa
• cuba
• son
• montuno

[melosita217]

Mi madre era sanjuanera, boricua y desde pequeña me enseño la buena musica de Cuba: Benny More y La Lupe. En el cielo hay tremendo fieston!!!

[shaspassren]

muy MUY bueno BUENO

[lopz33]

¡Tremendo tema!

[gomerijos]

El conjunto que aqui aparece nos el de Mongo Santamaria.

[azalori]

@MultiCaballoblanco CUANDO NO SE ARRIMAN A LA CARRETA EQUIVOCADA.

[gopb1]

que voz tenia esta mujer....................

[bontsai]

one of a kind

[MultiCaballoblanco]

@azalori =los artistas se deben a los pueblos y no a los politicos

[puertorricane]

la lupe que cantante te dejaron sola cuando los necesitabas pero que se caguen en su madre esos hijos de la gran familia

[dombinii]

muy muy muy buena cantante , no cabe duda

[0FFPRICESELLER]

La Lupe querida por muchas personas de muchisimos paises gran interprete

que se adaptava a cualquier tema y lo hacia suyo para compartirlo con su publico.

[officialanitagrace]

She was so pretty.