Latin Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Awards 2008
The 2008 Latin Recording Academy(LARAS) ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award winners are distinctive this year because, in an unusual move for the academy, 5 out of the 6 winners are women. The Lifetime Achievement Award, an award for performers, is presented by vote of LARAS trustees to artists who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording. Here are the winners for 2008.
Vikki Carr was a staple on entertainment television during the 1960s & 1970s, and most people will remember her most famous hit single, “It Must Be Him.” But even though she changed her name, originally Florencia Bisenta de Casillas Martinez Cardona, to a more anglicized stage name, the singer from El Paso, TX never really left her roots. Recording her first Spanish Language album Que Sea El in 1972, she went on focus almost half of her 40 albums on Latin music in Spanish, including albums with tango’s Mariano Mores, ranchera’s Vicente Fernandez and with the Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan.Buy from Amazon »
Cheo (Jose Luis Feliciano Vega) is one of the great singers from the golden age of salsa, performing with Joe Cuba for 10 years and joining the roster of greats recording for Fania Records, the label that has been called the “Motown Records” of the salsa explosion.His 1972 debut solo album Cheo broke previous Latin music sales records and after 5 decades of music, the baritone is still recording in his native Puerto Rico.
Cheo Feliciano InterviewBuy from Amazon »
Even those not that familiar with Brazilian music must have heard Astrud Gilberto’s rendition of “The Girl From Ipanema”, the song written by the father of bossa nova, Antonio Carlos Jobim and immortalized on the classic album Getz/Gilberto by Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto (who was Astrud Gilberto’s husband at the time). A seminal voice in both bossa nova and Brazilian jazz, Astrud Gilberto went on to receive the Latin Jazz USA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1962 and, after 4 decades of delighting audiences with her cool, jazzy tunes, was inducted into the "International Latin Music Hall of Fame" in 2002.
Astrud Gilberto WebsiteBuy from Amazon »
‘Mexico’s Sweetheart’ (La Novia de Mexico) was the phrased coined to describe Angelica Maria (nee Angelica Maria Hartman Ortiz) who probably made more films than albums – but then she sang in many of those same productions. Although she was born in New Orleans, her mother took her back to Mexico when she was 5 and it wasn’t long thereafter that she entered the movie biz. “Eddie, Eddie” was her first and biggest hit song although she went on to join RCA and become one of the biggest stars in Latin America. Together with the incomparable Juan Gabriel, the duo started performing ballads backed by mariachi bands and created the style called ‘balada ranchera.’ Buy from Amazon »
From Buenos Aires, Latin jazz singer Estela Raval (nee Palma Nicolina Ravallo) married trumpeter Ricardo Romero in 1954 and together they formed Los Cinco Latinos, with whom she would go on to make 20 albums. Raval and Los 5 Latinos are credited with bringing doo wop into Latin America and then continuing on to influence the emergence of Latin pop and rock & roll. After 50 years of entertaining millions, Raval is still actively performing.
Estela Raval /Los Cinco Latinos WebsiteBuy from Amazon »
1. Vikki Carr
Vikki Carr was a staple on entertainment television during the 1960s & 1970s, and most people will remember her most famous hit single, “It Must Be Him.” But even though she changed her name, originally Florencia Bisenta de Casillas Martinez Cardona, to a more anglicized stage name, the singer from El Paso, TX never really left her roots. Recording her first Spanish Language album Que Sea El in 1972, she went on focus almost half of her 40 albums on Latin music in Spanish, including albums with tango’s Mariano Mores, ranchera’s Vicente Fernandez and with the Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan.Buy from Amazon »
2. Cheo Feliciano
Cheo (Jose Luis Feliciano Vega) is one of the great singers from the golden age of salsa, performing with Joe Cuba for 10 years and joining the roster of greats recording for Fania Records, the label that has been called the “Motown Records” of the salsa explosion.His 1972 debut solo album Cheo broke previous Latin music sales records and after 5 decades of music, the baritone is still recording in his native Puerto Rico.
Cheo Feliciano InterviewBuy from Amazon »
3. Astrud Gilberto
Even those not that familiar with Brazilian music must have heard Astrud Gilberto’s rendition of “The Girl From Ipanema”, the song written by the father of bossa nova, Antonio Carlos Jobim and immortalized on the classic album Getz/Gilberto by Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto (who was Astrud Gilberto’s husband at the time). A seminal voice in both bossa nova and Brazilian jazz, Astrud Gilberto went on to receive the Latin Jazz USA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1962 and, after 4 decades of delighting audiences with her cool, jazzy tunes, was inducted into the "International Latin Music Hall of Fame" in 2002.
Astrud Gilberto WebsiteBuy from Amazon »
4. Angelica Maria
‘Mexico’s Sweetheart’ (La Novia de Mexico) was the phrased coined to describe Angelica Maria (nee Angelica Maria Hartman Ortiz) who probably made more films than albums – but then she sang in many of those same productions. Although she was born in New Orleans, her mother took her back to Mexico when she was 5 and it wasn’t long thereafter that she entered the movie biz. “Eddie, Eddie” was her first and biggest hit song although she went on to join RCA and become one of the biggest stars in Latin America. Together with the incomparable Juan Gabriel, the duo started performing ballads backed by mariachi bands and created the style called ‘balada ranchera.’ Buy from Amazon »
5. Maria Dolores Pradera
Spain’s Maria Dolores Pradera also got her start in the film industry, acting through the 1940s and 1950s. She dropped film during the 60s in order to focus on her singing career. Her music is a mix of favorite melodic forms from Spain – boleros and coplas- as well as a variety of folk music from Spain and Latin America. She sang with Los Gemelos for most of that time and has recently released En Buenas, a compilation album ofduets.Buy from Amazon »6. Estela Raval
From Buenos Aires, Latin jazz singer Estela Raval (nee Palma Nicolina Ravallo) married trumpeter Ricardo Romero in 1954 and together they formed Los Cinco Latinos, with whom she would go on to make 20 albums. Raval and Los 5 Latinos are credited with bringing doo wop into Latin America and then continuing on to influence the emergence of Latin pop and rock & roll. After 50 years of entertaining millions, Raval is still actively performing.
Estela Raval /Los Cinco Latinos WebsiteBuy from Amazon »
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