Palmenia Pizarro

Singer Palmenia Pizarro entered the world within a modest Chilean household. Drawn to Peruvian vals from the 1950s alongside regional folk traditions, she began performing at seven and relocated to Santiago de Chile during her teenage years, where she appeared on various radio broadcasts. Following her victory in the competition Asi Canta Perú, she cut her debut single in 1963, pairing “Mi Pobreza” with “Amarga Experiencia.” She next released the album Que Lindo Canta Palmenia. Augusto Campos’s composition “Cariño Malo” soon emerged as a major hit. After crisscrossing Chile in 1971, she extended her performances across Latin America and reached the finals of Puerto Rico’s Festival de La Voz y la Canción. Her 1975 single “Ajeno” rose on Mexican charts, prompting her to base herself in Mexico for over twenty years, during which she visited Central America, the United States, Australia, and Europe. She moved back to Chile in 1997.