Luis Enrique Gatica Silva (11 August 1928 – 13 November 2018),
''The New York Times''. Retrieved 10 December 2018. better known as Lucho Gatica was a Chilean

bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It h ...

singer, film actor, and television host known as "the King of Bolero". He is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential exponents of the bolero and one of the most popular of all time worldwide. It is estimated that Gatica released more than 90 recordings. He toured across the world, performing in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, the Middle East and Asia. He was the uncle of the

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

Humberto Gatica Humberto Gatica is a Chilean and American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with Celine Dion, Chicago, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, Cher and Michael Bublé. Gatic ...

Biography

Lucho Gatica was born in Rancagua. He attended school at the Instituto O'Higgins. He and his brother

Arturo Arturo is a Spanish and Italian variant of the name Arthur. People * Arturo Alessandri (1868–1950), Chilean politician and president * Arturo Álvarez (footballer, born 1985), American-born Salvadoran footballer * Arturo Álvarez (footballer, bo ...

were struggling singers before they released their first album in 1949, when Gatica was 21 years old. Chileans generally experienced a change in their taste in music during the 1950s, when the bolero overtook the

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 ...

as Chileans' preferred music genre. Singers like

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

's Olga Guillot, Argentinian Leo Marini and Mexican Elvira Ríos, among others, became popular during that time. So were Xavier Cugat and his orchestra, which included Puerto Rican Bobby Capó. These singers would influence Gatica. Gatica's first record, 1951's "Me importas tú" (''You Matter to Me''), became a hit across Latin America. The next year he released " Contigo en la distancia" (''With You in the Distance''). Gatica recorded his version of

Consuelo Velázquez Consuelo Velázquez Torres (August 21, 1916, in Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco – January 22, 2005, Mexico City), also popularly known as Consuelito Velázquez, was a Mexican concert pianist and composer. She was the composer of famous Mexican balla ...

's "

Bésame Mucho "Bésame Mucho" (; "Kiss Me A Lot") is a bolero song written in 1932 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez. One of the most important songs in the history of Latin music, it became one the most popular pop standards of the 20th century as ...

" (''Kiss Me a Lot'') in 1953. He produced two more albums that year: ''Las Muchachas de la Plaza España'' (''The Girls from Spain Square'') and ''Sinceridad'' (''Sincerity''). The following year his hit "Sinceridad" was released. Gatica moved to Mexico in 1957, where he recorded and released ''No me platiques más'' (''Don't Talk to me Anymore''), ''Tú me acostumbraste'' (''You Accustomed Me'') and ''Voy a apagar la Luz'' (''I'm Turning the Lights Off''), which was released in 1959. In 1956, Gatica's songs were recorded in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

on LP for the first time by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

. Three albums were released within 14 months by Capitol. The third one in that group with Capitol was ''El Gran Gatica'', which featured such songs as "Somos" ("We Are"), "Sabrá Dios" ("God Will Know"), and ''Si me comprendieras'' ("If You Understood Me"). One of the three Gatica albums released in 1958 was a greatest hits compilation; the third was named ''Envenenados'' (''The Poisoned''). He also recorded a song entitled " Encadenados" (''Chained''). After arriving in Mexico, Gatica decided to become a permanent resident there. He married Puerto Rican actress Mapita Cortés, who also resided in Mexico. The couple had two sons named

Luis Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

and

Alfredo Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon name Alfred (name), Alfred and a common Italian language, Italian, Galician language, Galician, Portuguese language, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. Given name Artists a ...

. Gatica became a

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar Drama (film and television), drama genres around the w ...

and rock star during the 1980s; his son Alfredo became a music entrepreneur. Gatica divorced Cortés in 1981. The following year he married Diane Lane Schmidt and had a daughter named Lily; Schmidt died in 1985. He then married his last wife, Leslie Deeb, in 1986. Altogether he had seven children. In 2001, Gatica was inducted into the

International Latin Music Hall of Fame The International Latin Music Hall of Fame (ILMHF) was an annual event established in 1999 and held in New York City to honor artists who have largely contributed to the Latin music genre. In addition to the induction into the Hall of Fame, the a ...

. In the same year, his renditions of "La Barca" and "El Reloj" were inducted into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame. Gatica himself was one of the recipients of the

Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award The Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is an honor presented annually by the Latin Recording Academy, the same organization that distributes the Latin Grammy Awards, to commend performers "who have made contributions of outstanding artistic ...

in 2007. He also received a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

for Recording in 2008. Gatica died in Mexico on 13 November 2018 from pneumonia.

References

External links

Lucho Web
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gatica, Lucho 1928 births 2018 deaths 20th-century Chilean male singers Chilean male singer-songwriters Chilean singer-songwriters Chilean people of Basque descent Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners People from Rancagua Instituto O'Higgins de Rancagua alumni Chilean television personalities 20th-century Chilean male artists

Biography

See also

References

External links