Consuelo Velázquez

Although a prolific recording artist and composer in her native Mexico, to all of those other world Consuelo Velázquez is well known almost exclusively for just one song — but just what a song: “Besame Mucho,” documented over time by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley towards the Beatles. Created August 29, 1916, in Ciudad Guzmán, Mexico, Velázquez started teaching herself piano at age four, 2 yrs later producing her community debut on the Academy in Serratos. After their studies at the Country wide Conservatory, in 1938 she was received being a concert pianist at Mexico City’s Palace of Great Arts, that same calendar year producing her film debut in Noches de Carnaval. Velázquez also started executing on radio, after that regarded a scandalous potential customer for any youthful Mexican girl of virtuous position. Because of this, she proved helpful under some male pseudonyms, frequently playing the initial songs she constructed at night. Employed in the idiom from the Cuban bolero, she composed “Besame Mucho” in 1941. First documented that same calendar year by Emilio Tuero, the heartfelt and sweetly innocent ode towards the kiss became popular on Mexican radio but gained its shot at immortality because of a dispute between American broadcasters as well as the executing privileges association ASCAP, that was challenging higher royalty costs for its associates. Rival company BMI searched for to fill up the difference with songs created beyond your U.S., handing “Besame Mucho” to lyricist Sunny Skylar for an English-language rewrite. However the first American documenting was by Andy Russell, “Besame Mucho” really entered the favorite awareness in 1943, when it had been a million-selling chart-topper for Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra along with highlighted vocalists Kitty Kallen and Bob Eberle. Following achievement of “Besame Mucho,” Velázquez started a recording profession of her very own, writing some Latin American favorites including “Pecado,” “La Que Se Fue,” “Corazon,” “Amar con Vivar,” and “Que Divino.” Some had been also documented by English-language serves, but all didn’t repeat her preliminary flurry of achievement. Furthermore to music, she sometimes acted, appearing being a pianist in the 1959 film Mis Padres Se Divorcian. In August 1962, the town of Guadalajara celebrated the 20th wedding anniversary of “Besame Mucho” using a celebration featuring performances by lots of the performers who documented the song over time. In the years since, that list is continuing to grow exponentially and today includes Nat Ruler Cole, Sammy Davis, Jr., José Carreras, Celine Dion, and Artie Shaw. In 1999 a Spanish tv network called “Besame Mucho” the tune of the hundred years, and in 2003 Velázquez was immortalized using a Mexico Town statue sculpted with the renowned musician Sergio Peraza. She passed away on January 22, 2005.