Palito Ortega

Argentinian Ramón Bautista Ortega entered the music scene near the end of the 1950s, acquiring the nickname Palito from his slender build. Before show business claimed him, he had held jobs washing dishes and peddling newspapers and coffee, occupations he abandoned once his performing abilities surfaced. RCA offered a recording deal that sent his releases up local rankings and soon led to screen work. He strengthened his standing across Latin America by delivering the hit single “Yo Tengo Fé” while taking a lead part in the stage musical Un Muchacho Como Yo.

During the 1980s Ortega relocated to the United States and established a production company focused on the Hispanic audience there. In 1991 he affiliated with the Partido Justicialista, organized the political movement Frente de la Esperanza, and won election as Tucumán’s Governor that September. November 1995 brought his selection as senator. The Justicialist Party chose him as its vice-presidential candidate in 1999; after the ticket lost, he stepped away from public office.

Two years afterward Ortega resumed live performances and toured throughout the Americas while Sony/BMG began digitally reissuing his catalog. That same year he shared the Martín Fierro prize with Chico Novarro for composing the soundtrack to the television series El Sodero de Mi Vida. His 2004 album Pasado y Presente featured “Gente Gente,” the theme for the TV series Los Roldán, on whose set he appeared as a guest during the 200th-episode celebration. A 2009 documentary series hosted by Susana Gimenez paid tribute to his career. In December 2010 he performed at the Popular Song Festival in Mar del Plata alongside Chaqueño Palavecino, Marcela Morelo, and Luciano Pereyra. The following year he played a concert at Argentina’s Gena Stadium, then gave two sold-out shows at the Teatro Gran Rex in 2012 and sang during a wedding scene in the telenovela Graduados.

Ortega returned to the studio with Por Los Caminos del Rey, his first collection of new songs in twenty-five years. Recorded in Memphis, Tennessee, with the Memphis Boys—Presley’s former backing group—the album drew praise for recapturing the drive and directness of his earliest work. He and the band played Luna Park that December. In 2013 the Grammy Academy presented him the Latino Award for Musical Excellence in recognition of four decades of contributions to Spanish-language popular music.

Two years later Sony issued Cantando con Amigo, produced by guitarist Nelson Pombal and engineered by Los Leonardo García; the set carried a roots-rock flavor. The “friends” named in the title encompass Charly Garcia, Pedro Aznar, Nito Mestre, and Fernando Samalea, together with American session musicians Jim Campilongo and Jesse Harris; Joe Blaney, known for work with the Clash and Prince, mixed the record in New York. Ortega released Rock & Roll in 2017, subtitled “A Tribute to Nery Nelson,” the performing name he had used in the 1950s. The album contained covers of rock-and-roll classics first popularized by Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis—material he had interpreted as Nelson during the early 1960s and that became hits in Argentina through his distinctive, streetwise Spanish adaptations. It also offered several original tracks and two duets: one with legendary Argentine rocker Enrique Guzmán of Los Teen Tops on “Good Rockin’ Tonight” and another with Garcia on the original “Poptitos.”