Julio María Sosa Venturini (2 February 1926 – 26 November 1964), usually referred to simply as Julio Sosa or El Varón del Tango, was a

Uruguayan Uruguayans () are people identified with the country of Uruguay, through citizenship or descent. Uruguay is home to people of different ethnic origins. As a result, many Uruguayans do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizen ...

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

singer.

Biography

Sosa was born in Las Piedras, a

Canelones Department The Departamento de Canelones (; ) is one of the 19 Uruguayan departments. With an area of and 608,956 inhabitants at the 2023 Census, it is located in the south of Uruguay. Its capital is Canelones. Ciudad de la Costa is the largest city by ...

suburb of

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. He moved to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, in 1949, where he became famous with the Orquesta Francini-Pontier the

Orquesta típica Orquesta típica, or simply a típica, is a Latin American term for a band which plays popular music. The details vary from country to country. The term tends to be used for groups of medium size (about 8 to 12 musicians) in some well-defined in ...

formed by the violinist Enrique Mario Francini and the bandoneonist Armando Pontier. Working with numerous other orchestras, he was reunited with Pontier in 1955, with whom he recorded several best-selling albums on the

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

and Columbia labels and became one of the most important tango singers in the genre's history.TodoTango Biography:Julio Sosa
/ref> JulioSosa2

He married Nora Ulfeldt in 1958 and had a daughter. His marriage ended in separation, however, and he settled into a relationship with Susana Merighi. His towering masculinity and reserved strength earned him the nickname ''El Varón del Tango'' ("The Man of Tango"). Sosa also published a book of poetry, ''Dos horas antes del alba'' ("Two Hours Before the Dawn"), in 1960. Following his switch to

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

in 1961, the Pontier orchestra incorporated a new

bandoneon The bandoneon () or bandonion is a type of concertina particularly popular in Argentina and Uruguay. It is a typical instrument in most tango ensembles. As with other members of the concertina family, it is held between the hands, and played ...

ist,

Leopoldo Federico Leopoldo Federico (12 January 1927 – 28 December 2014) was an Argentine bandoneon player, arranger, director and composer. Life Born in the district of Once in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Federico was one of the most prolific bandoneo ...

, and the association helped make the group the most successful in its genre, at the time. Sosa's fame acquainted him with

sports car A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...

s as well. He had numerous accidents during the early 1960s, mostly as a result of speeding. He was behind the wheel of an Auto Union 1000S ''Fissore'' coupé when, in the early hours of November 26, 1964, he crashed at high speed into a traffic light on Buenos Aires'

Figueroa Alcorta Avenue Avenida Figueroa Alcorta is a major thoroughfare street in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a length of over along the city's northside. History The rapid northward growth of the city of Buenos Aires during the late nineteenth century was facilit ...

, killing himself at age 38.

References

1926 births 1964 deaths People from Las Piedras, Uruguay Tango singers Uruguayan tango musicians 20th-century Uruguayan male singers Uruguayan expatriates in Argentina Road incident deaths in Argentina {{Uruguay-singer-stub