by the El Reportero’s news services
Luis Enrique Gatica Silva has just turned 90 and if that name says little, bolero and ballad lovers have this Chilean singer known as Lucho Gatica among the greatest ones.
‘My father is loved in Cuba, Spain, Brazil, Mexico and so many countries, but of course this Chilean affection is different and special for him,’ his Mexican daughter Juanita Gatica Cortes said.
All this is on occasion of a tribute to the winner of the Latin Grammy Award for Excellence in 2007 in his native Rancagua, in central Chile, where a bronze statue was unveiled at the Regional Theater with his figure and that of his brother, Arturo.
His last album, Historia de un amor (History of a Love), dates back to 2013. He made duos with none other than Italian singer Laura Pausini, Portuguese-Canadian singer Nelly Furtado and Canadian singer and songwriter Michael Bubble, among others.
But much earlier, Lucho Gatica became essential to the romantics of the 1950s and 1960s with successes such as Piel Canela (Cinnamon Skin), Contigo en la distancia (With You in the Distance), Bésame mucho (Kiss Me a Lot), El reloj (The Clock), No me platiques más (Don’t Talk to me Anymore), and the Chilean song Yo vendo unos ojos negros (Dark Eyes for Sale).
In January 2008, the Chilean singer received the 2354th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
U.S.: Music and personality of Elvis Presley
After 41 years of the death of the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, his followers remember his music and personality as one of the most influential in the history of popular music in the 20th Century.
Considered one of the great legends of contemporary music, Elvis Presley sang for his first time in public in 1945, and some time later, he received his first guitar, which inspired him the peculiar pelvic movements he made in his performances and a madly melodic passion that it had not been experimented before. With these two elements, Presley conquered the world.
In 1948, Presley’s family moved to Memphis, a city located in the southwest of the state of Tennenssee, where people never imagined the boy’s music would give birth to a musical and film revolution for successive decades.
With the mission to condense all the work of the performer into five classics, his fans and the world of rock and roll in particular remember this Thursday the so-called king of the genre (1935-1977) and commemorate the 41st anniversary of his death.
Topics such as My happiness’(1953), That’s all right(1954), It’s now or never (1960) and Suspicious minds (1969) are today positioned on social networks as a well-deserved tribute to Presley.
Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin Dies at 76
Aretha Franklin, the undisputed ”Queen of Soul” who sang with matchless style on such classics as Think, ””I Say a Little Prayer” and her signature song, ”Respect,” and stood as a cultural icon around the globe, has died at age 76 from pancreatic cancer.
She died Thursday morning at her home in Detroit, ‘one of the darkest moments of our lives,’ her family said in a statement.
‘We have been deeply touched by the incredible outpouring of love and support we have received from close friends, supporters and fans all around the world,’ the family said, adding that funeral arrangements would be announced in coming days.
Franklin, who had battled undisclosed health issues in recent years, had announced her retirement from touring last year.
A professional singer and accomplished pianist by her late teens, a superstar by her mid-20s, Franklin had long ago settled any arguments over who was the greatest popular vocalist of her time.
Her gifts, natural and acquired, were a multi-octave mezzo-soprano, gospel passion and training worthy of a preacher’s daughter, taste sophisticated and eccentric, and the courage to channel private pain into liberating song.
