Rocío Dúrcal

Born into a working-class Spanish family, Maria de los Angeles de las Heras Ortíz would later gain fame as actress and singer Rocío Durcal. An early fascination with music developed while she attended Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, prompting her grandfather to encourage entries in local festivals and radio contests. At fifteen, her performance of “La Sombra Vendo” on the television program Primer Aplauso drew the notice of producer Luis Sanz, who promptly offered her a contract and arranged singing and dancing instruction from Lola de Aragón and Alberto Lorca.

Thereafter she performed under the name Rocío Durcal, taken from a Spanish province and introduced in the Luis Lucia-directed film Canción de Juventud; the same director cast her again in 1962’s Rocío de la Mancha. At seventeen she launched tours across Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and the United States, where she appeared on Ed Sullivan’s television show. The albums Mis 19 Canciones de Juventud and Siempre followed in 1968.

Two years later she married singer Antonio Morales, known professionally as Junior, and the pair toured Spain and the Americas through the early 1970s. In 1976 she met Juan Gabriel, who persuaded her to explore the Mexican ranchera style. During the 1980s Durcal turned to romantic ballads, collaborating with songwriters such as Juan Carlos Calderon, Roberto Livi, and Marco Antonio Solís. After a three-year fight with cancer, she died at her Madrid home on March 25, 2006.