Olga Guillot
by Antonio Mejías-Rentas
QUEEN OF BOLERO: Cuban singer Olga Guillot, whose powerful voice and unique style helped define Latin American romantic music, died July 12 following a heart attack. She was 86.
Born in Santiago, Cuba, she began performing as a teen after winning a singing contest in Havana. She gained notoriety for her guttural voice, facial expressions and unique interpretations of the Cubastyle bolero. Her original recordings of songs like Tu me acostumbraste, Sabor a mi and La mentira became instant classics and earned her the title of “Queen of the bolero.”
“I am very visceral, very emotional, temperamental. That is Olga Guillot and that’s what makes me vibrate,” she told the Associated Press in 2007, shortly before receiving a special award from the Latin Recording Academy.
She was an established star when she left Cuba in 1961 and lived in exile in Mexico City for several years before eventually settling in South Florida.
“The great Olga Guillot will be remembered as the woman who elevated bolero to a new level,” producer said Emilio Estefan.
HAPPENS IN VEGAS, STAYS IN VEGAS: The Latin Grammys have a date with Sin City for the next three years. The Latin Recording Academy and Univisión announced last week a deal with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to hold its awards show in the city for the next three years. The ceremony will be broadcast live from the Mandalay Bay Hotel, site of the 2007 awards. This year’s 11th annual ceremony will be held Nov. 11. Nominees will be announced Sept. 8.
ONE LINERS: With four nods each, La Mission and Our Family Wedding are the top nominees for this year’s Imagen Awards, to be presented in Los Angeles Aug. 15… British actor Alfred Molina has joined the cast of Law & Order: Los Angeles, as a Latino D.A. The show joins the NBC schedule in the fall… Guillermo del Toro is set to direct a new version of the Disney film Haunted Mansion, based on the Mexican director’s favorite Disneyland ride… Activist Dolores Huerta will mark her recent 80th birthday with an Aug. 13 concert at Los Angeles Greek Theater, with performers such as Carlos Santana, Lila Downs, Zack de la Rocha and Culture Clash… Spanish Oscarwinning actors Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz were married this month in the Bahamas… rocker Carlos Santana proposed marriage to his drummer girlfriend Cindy Blackman during a Chicago-area concert this month… and
Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz shaved his head to fulfill a bet he made, that his country’s team would win the World Cup of soccer, but Enrique Iglesias has yet to follow up on his: he’s said he will water ski nude in the Florida Keys, despite warnings from the police that he might get arrested… Hispanic Link.
