La Lupe
Encyclopedia
La Lupe (Santiago de Cuba
, 23 December 1939 – The Bronx, New York, 29 February 1992), was a Cuba
n-American singer of several musical genres: bolero
s, guaracha
s and Latin soul
in particular. Known for her energetic, sometimes controversial performances, she is considered by many to be one of the leading singers in the salsa music genre.
, La Lupe was a singer of extraordinary talent. Her father was a worker at the local Bacardi
distillery and a major influence on her early life. Her introduction to fame was in 1954, on a radio program which invited fans to sing imitations of their favorite stars. Lupe bunked off school to sing a bolero of Olga Guillot
's, called Miénteme (Lie to me), and won the competition. The family moved to Havana
in 1955, where she was enrolled at the University of Havana
to become a teacher. Like Celia Cruz
, she was certified as a schoolteacher before she became a professional singer.
Lupe married in 1958 and formed a musical trio with her husband Eulogio "Yoyo" Reyes and another female singer. This group, Los Tropicuba, broke up along with the marriage in 1960. She began to perform her own act at a small nightclub
in Havana
, La Red (The Net), which had a clientele of distinguished foreigners. She acquired a devoted following, which included Ernest Hemingway
, Tennessee Williams
, Jean-Paul Sartre
, Simone de Beauvoir
and Marlon Brando
. She also performed regularly on radio. She released her first album, Con el Diablo en el cuerpo (With the Devil in my body) in 1960, for RCA Victor, which was later certified gold. Her first television appearance on Puerto Rican television caused a stir due to her frenzied, vibrant performance, which reportedly shocked some viewers.
In 1962 she found herself exiled
to the United States. In New York City she performed at a cabaret
named La Barraca, where she was discovered by Mongo Santamaría
and started a new career, making more than 10 records in five years. She married a second time, to salsa musician Willie García, with whom she had a daughter. That marriage also ended in divorce.
Lupe's passionate performances covered the range of music: son montuno
, bolero, boogaloo
, venturing into other Caribbean styles
like Dominican merengue
, Puerto Rican bomba
and plena
. It was her recordings which brought Tite Curet Alonso
into prominence as a composer of tough-minded boleros in the salsa style. In the 1960s she was the most acclaimed Latin singer in New York City due to her partnership with Tito Puente
. She was the first Latin singer to sell out a concert event at Madison Square Garden
. She covered a wide variety of cover version
s in either Spanish or accented English, including Yesterday
,
Dominique by The Singing Nun
, Twist & Shout, Unchained Melody
, Fever
and America from West Side Story
.
The quality of her performances became increasingly uneven. There were pesistent rumours of her drug addiction, and her life was "a real earthquake" according to close friends. She ended some of her on-stage engagements being treated with an oxygen mask. Although she may have been poorly managed by her label Fania Records
in particular, she managed and produced herself in mid-career, after she parted ways with Tito Puente.
, she continued to practice her religion regardless of the influence, fortune, and fame she had acquired throughout the height of her career. Her record label, Fania Records, ended her contract in the late 1970s, perhaps simply because of falling sales. She retired in 1980, and found herself destitute by the early 1980s. In 1984 she injured her spine while trying to hang a curtain in her home; she initially used a wheelchair, then later a cane. An electrical fire made her homeless. After being "healed" at an evangelical Christian Crusade, La Lupe abandoned her Santería roots and became a born-again Christian. In 1991, she gave a concert at La Sinagoga in New York, singing Christian songs.
Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana....
, 23 December 1939 – The Bronx, New York, 29 February 1992), was a Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n-American singer of several musical genres: bolero
Bolero
Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...
s, guaracha
Guaracha
The guaracha is a genre of Cuban popular music, of rapid tempo and with lyrics. The word had been used in this sense at least since the late 18th and early 19th century. Guarachas were played and sung in musical theatres and in low-class dance salons. They became an integral part of Bufo comic...
s and Latin soul
Latin soul
Latin soul was a short lived musical genre movement which developed in the 60's in New York City. It consisted of a blend of Cuban mambo with elements of Latin Jazz and Soul music. Although short-lived, the genre had a great influence on the growing Salsa movement which would dominate the New York...
in particular. Known for her energetic, sometimes controversial performances, she is considered by many to be one of the leading singers in the salsa music genre.
Career
Born in the barrio of San Pedrito in Santiago de CubaSantiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana....
, La Lupe was a singer of extraordinary talent. Her father was a worker at the local Bacardi
Bacardi
Bacardi is a family-controlled spirits company, best known as a producer of rums, including Bacardi Superior and Bacardi 151. The company sells in excess of 200 million bottles per year in nearly 100 countries...
distillery and a major influence on her early life. Her introduction to fame was in 1954, on a radio program which invited fans to sing imitations of their favorite stars. Lupe bunked off school to sing a bolero of Olga Guillot
Olga Guillot
Olga Guillot was a Cuban singer who was known to be the "queen of bolero". She was a native of the Cuban city of Santiago.Guillot and her family moved to Havana, Cuba when she was a small child...
's, called Miénteme (Lie to me), and won the competition. The family moved to Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
in 1955, where she was enrolled at the University of Havana
University of Havana
The University of Havana or UH is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, Cuba. Founded in 1728, the University of Havana is the oldest university in Cuba, and one of the first to be founded in the Americas...
to become a teacher. Like Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz was a Cuban-American salsa singer, and was one of the most successful Salsa performers of the 20th century, having earned twenty-three gold albums...
, she was certified as a schoolteacher before she became a professional singer.
Lupe married in 1958 and formed a musical trio with her husband Eulogio "Yoyo" Reyes and another female singer. This group, Los Tropicuba, broke up along with the marriage in 1960. She began to perform her own act at a small nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, La Red (The Net), which had a clientele of distinguished foreigners. She acquired a devoted following, which included Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
, Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
, Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
, Simone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir
Simone-Ernestine-Lucie-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir, often shortened to Simone de Beauvoir , was a French existentialist philosopher, public intellectual, and social theorist. She wrote novels, essays, biographies, an autobiography in several volumes, and monographs on philosophy, politics, and...
and Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
. She also performed regularly on radio. She released her first album, Con el Diablo en el cuerpo (With the Devil in my body) in 1960, for RCA Victor, which was later certified gold. Her first television appearance on Puerto Rican television caused a stir due to her frenzied, vibrant performance, which reportedly shocked some viewers.
In 1962 she found herself exiled
Cuban exile
The term "Cuban exile" refers to the many Cubans who have sought alternative political or economic conditions outside the island, dating back to the Ten Years' War and the struggle for Cuban independence during the 19th century...
to the United States. In New York City she performed at a cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
named La Barraca, where she was discovered by Mongo Santamaría
Mongo Santamaría
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez was an Afro-Cuban Latin jazz percussionist. He is most famous for being the composer of the jazz standard "Afro Blue," recorded by John Coltrane among others. In 1950 he moved to New York where he played with Perez Prado, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Fania All...
and started a new career, making more than 10 records in five years. She married a second time, to salsa musician Willie García, with whom she had a daughter. That marriage also ended in divorce.
Lupe's passionate performances covered the range of music: son montuno
Son montuno
The son montuno is a style of the Cuban son, but exactly what it means is not an easy question to answer. The son itself is the most important genre of Cuban popular music. In addition, it is perhaps the most flexible of all forms of Latin-American music...
, bolero, boogaloo
Boogaloo
Boogaloo or bugalú is a genre of Latin music and dance that was popular in the United States in the 1960s. Boogaloo originated in New York City among teenage Cubans, Puerto Ricans and other groups. The style was a fusion of popular African American R&B and soul with mambo and son montuno...
, venturing into other Caribbean styles
Caribbean music
The music of the Caribbean is a diverse grouping of musical genres. They are each syntheses of African, European, Indian and native influences, largely created by descendants of African slaves...
like Dominican merengue
Merengue music
Merengue is a type of music and dance from the Dominican Republic. It is popular in the Dominican Republic and all over Latin America. Its name is Spanish, taken from the name of the meringue, a dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar...
, Puerto Rican bomba
Bomba
Bomba is one of the traditional musical styles of Puerto Rico. it is a largely African-derived music. The rhythm and beat are played by a set of floor drums, cuá and a maraca. Dance is an integral part of the music: the dancers move their bodies to every beat of the drum, making bomba a very...
and plena
Plena
Plena is a folkloric genre native to Puerto Rico. Its creation was influenced by African and Spanish music.-History:The music is generally folkloric. The music's beat and rhythm are usually played using hand drums called panderetas, but also known as panderos or pleneras. The music is accompanied...
. It was her recordings which brought Tite Curet Alonso
Tite Curet Alonso
Tite Curet Alonso was a renowned composer of over 2,000 salsa songs.- Early years :Born Catalino Curet Alonso in the southern town of Guayama in Puerto Rico. Alonso's mother was a seamtress and his father a Spanish teacher and musician in the band of Simon Madera...
into prominence as a composer of tough-minded boleros in the salsa style. In the 1960s she was the most acclaimed Latin singer in New York City due to her partnership with Tito Puente
Tito Puente
Tito Puente, , born Ernesto Antonio Puente, was a Latin jazz and Salsa musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" and "The King of Latin Music"...
. She was the first Latin singer to sell out a concert event at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
. She covered a wide variety of cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
s in either Spanish or accented English, including Yesterday
Yesterday (song)
"Yesterday" is a song originally recorded by The Beatles for their 1965 album Help!. The song first hit the United Kingdom top 10 three months after the release of Help!. The song remains popular today with more than 1,600 cover versions, one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded...
,
Dominique by The Singing Nun
The Singing Nun
Jeanine Deckers , known in English as The Singing Nun, was a Belgian nun, and a member of the Dominican Fichermont Convent in Belgium. She became internationally famous in 1963 as Sœur Sourire when she scored a hit with the song "Dominique"...
, Twist & Shout, Unchained Melody
Unchained Melody
"Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. It has become one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, by some counts having spawned over 500 versions in hundreds of different languages....
, Fever
Fever (1956 song)
"Fever" is a song written by Eddie Cooley and Otis Blackwell, who used the pseudonym John Davenport. It was originally recorded by Little Willie John in 1956. It has been covered by numerous artists from various musical genres, notably Peggy Lee in 1958....
and America from West Side Story
West Side Story (film)
West Side Story is a 1961 musical film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was adapted from William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno,...
.
The quality of her performances became increasingly uneven. There were pesistent rumours of her drug addiction, and her life was "a real earthquake" according to close friends. She ended some of her on-stage engagements being treated with an oxygen mask. Although she may have been poorly managed by her label Fania Records
Fania Records
Fania Records was a New York based record label founded by Dominican-born composer and bandleader Johnny Pacheco and Italian-American lawyer Jerry Masucci in 1964. The label took its name from an old Cuban song by the singer Reinaldo Bolaño. Fania is known for its promotion of what has become...
in particular, she managed and produced herself in mid-career, after she parted ways with Tito Puente.
Religious beliefs
A devout follower of SanteríaSantería
Santería is a syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin influenced by Roman Catholic Christianity, also known as Regla de Ocha, La Regla Lucumi, or Lukumi. Its liturgical language, a dialect of Yoruba, is also known as Lucumi....
, she continued to practice her religion regardless of the influence, fortune, and fame she had acquired throughout the height of her career. Her record label, Fania Records, ended her contract in the late 1970s, perhaps simply because of falling sales. She retired in 1980, and found herself destitute by the early 1980s. In 1984 she injured her spine while trying to hang a curtain in her home; she initially used a wheelchair, then later a cane. An electrical fire made her homeless. After being "healed" at an evangelical Christian Crusade, La Lupe abandoned her Santería roots and became a born-again Christian. In 1991, she gave a concert at La Sinagoga in New York, singing Christian songs.
Death
She died of a heart attack on 29 February 1992 at 52 years of age. She was survived by her second husband William García, son René Camaño (from her first marriage) and her daughter Rainbow García (from her second marriage). She's interred in Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx.Original LPs
This section is believed to be complete:- Con el Diablo en el cuerpo 1960 Discuba LP
- La Lupe is back 1961
- Mongo introduces La Lupe 1963
- The King swings, the incredible Lupe sings 1965 (with Tito PuenteTito PuenteTito Puente, , born Ernesto Antonio Puente, was a Latin jazz and Salsa musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" and "The King of Latin Music"...
) - Tú y yo 1965 (with Tito Puente)
- Homenaje a Rafael Hernández 1966 (with Tito Puente)
- La Lupe y su alma venezolana 1966
- A mí me llaman La Lupe 1966
- The King and I 1967 (with Tito Puente)
- The Queen does her own thing 1967
- Two sides of La Lupe 1968
- Queen of Latin soul 1968
- La Lupe's era 1968
- La Lupe is the Queen 1969
- Definitely la Yiyiyi 1969
- That genius called the Queen 1970
- La Lupe en Madrid 1971
- Stop, I'm free again 1972
- ¿Pero cómo va ser? 1973
- Un encuentro con La Lupe – with Curet Alonso 1974
- One of a kind 1977
- La pareja 1978 (with Tito Puente)
- En algo nuevo 1980. Last original album
Compilations
This section is not complete.- Lo mejor de la Lupe Compilation, 1974
- Apasionada Compilation, 1978
- La Lupe: too much 1989. Compilation from Tico recordings only, by Charly Records LP HOT 123
- Dance with the Queen 2008
- La Lupe greatest hits 2008
Religious albums 1986-89
- La samaritana
- Te amo porque me amaste primero
- Dios no es hombre para que mienta
- La Lupe en Cristo
Key numbers
Short list of characteristic numbers, taken from Giro Radamés' Diccionario enciclopédico de la música en Cuba and compilation albums:- Con el Diablo en el cuerpo (With the devil in my body)
- Fiebre (FeverFever (1956 song)"Fever" is a song written by Eddie Cooley and Otis Blackwell, who used the pseudonym John Davenport. It was originally recorded by Little Willie John in 1956. It has been covered by numerous artists from various musical genres, notably Peggy Lee in 1958....
) - Crazy love
- Qué te pedí?
- La tirana [Tico SLP 1167]
- Puro teatro (Pure theatre) [Tico SLP 1192]
- Adíos (Goodbye)
- Carcajada final (Last laugh) [Tico SLP 1176]
- A Benny Moré [Tico CLP 1310]
Films, theatre
- La Lupe: my life, my destiny: theatrical production by Carmen Rivera (2001).
- La Lupe: Queen of Latin Soul film by Ela Troyano (2003; 2007)
- La Reina, La Lupe by Rafael Albertori (2003).
Popular Culture
- In the 1990s, interest in her music was re-sparked when Pedro AlmodóvarPedro AlmodóvarPedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...
included Puro Teatro, one of her boleros of love and breakup in his film Women on the Verge of a Nervous BreakdownWomen on the Verge of a Nervous BreakdownWomen on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is a 1988 Spanish black comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas...
.
- Her recording of La Virgen Lloraba was used in the 1996 film The BirdcageThe BirdcageThe Birdcage is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Mike Nichols, and stars Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, Hank Azaria, and Christine Baranski. The script was written by Elaine May...
.
- In 2002, New York City renamed East 140th Street in The Bronx as La Lupe Way in her memory.
- Cuban-American writer Daína ChavianoDaína ChavianoDaina Chaviano is a Cuban writer.She is considered one of the three most important female fantasy and science fiction writers in the Spanish language, along with Angélica Gorodischer and Elia Barceló , forming the so-called “feminine trinity of science fiction in Latin America.”In Cuba, she...
pays homage to La Lupe in the novel The Island of Eternal LoveThe Island of Eternal LoveThe Island of Eternal Love is a novel by Cuban author Daína Chaviano.The plot is a family saga that takes place along two parallel lines: one during our time and another that begins in the 1850s....
(Riverhead-Penguin, 2008), where the singer appears in a cameo singing Puro Teatro.
External links
- La Lupe, Queen of Latin Soul site for Independent LensIndependent LensAiring weekly on PBS through ITVS, the Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens introduces new drama and documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of Independent Lens have been presented by hosts Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Howard, Maggie...
on PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia.... - La Lupe on Find A GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...
- Performances of Pleasure and Pain: Dr Vanessa Knights (pdf)
- http://www.lalupeonline.com [(The First ever website)] 2011