Gloria Lasso

Born in Vilafranca del Penedès, Catalonia, on October 28, 1922, Spanish-born singer Gloria Lasso popularized a Latin repertoire in France in the late 1950s. Nothing predisposed this child of a modest family, tossed from one province to another, to become a singing star. Married to a guitarist in 1938, she sang in cabarets and recorded 78-tours before trying her luck in Paris, where the couple settled in 1952. Noticed by an artistic director at Pathé-Marconi, Gloria Lasso added French songs to her repertoire and scored a major hit in 1955 with "Étrangère au paradis", Francis Blanche's adaptation of the English title "Stranger in Paradise". From then on, the singer went on to make a number of records and headline galas, including at the Olympia in 1957, with the Pinder circus in 1958 and at Bobino in 1959. Between duets with Luis Mariano and exotic tunes written by Francis Lopez, her fame became international and her records sold by the million, as far afield as Brazil and Japan. Among the most popular songs were "La Valse mexicaine", "Le Pauvre muletier", "Toi, mon démon", "Buenas Noches, Mi Amor" and "Histoire d'un amour", which remained popular until the early 1960s, before the arrival of Dalida, who attracted a younger audience in the yé-yé era. Sensing the tide was turning, Gloria Lasso left France for Mexico, where a new career awaited her, with an exclusively Spanish-language repertoire. Returning to France in the early 1970s, the Catalan singer tried to revive her success, returning to the Olympia in 1985, thanks to appearances on TV variety shows. She wrote her autobiography Je plaide coupable, and in 1986 recorded a Spanish version of Rita Mitsouko's hit "Marcia Baïla ", while a fake marriage with her agent proved to be a publicity stunt. Gloria Lasso had become a personality surrounded by an aura of another time, attracting only tabloid fans for her legends and repeated love stories. Her audience, reduced to the homosexual community appreciative of her glamorous, kitsch image, still gives her a warm welcome at discos, like her house remix of"Etrangère au paradis", or her latest albums Forever (1998) and Amor Latino (2002). On December 4, 2005, Gloria Lasson breathed her last in Mexico at the age of 83.