The De Castro Sisters

Born as Marguerita Dolores Esperanza Fernando DeCastro in the Dominican Republic in 1921, Peggy DeCastro died in Las Vegas on 6 March 2004, while Babette DeCastro, born in Havana on 24 May 1925, passed away in the United States on 10 January 1992; their sister Cherie DeCastro, also born in Cuba, completed the close-harmony vocal trio known as the DeCastro Sisters. Their mother had performed as one of the original Ziegfeld Follies dancers, and their father had owned a sugar plantation first in the Dominican Republic and later in Cuba. During the 1940s the trio’s flamboyant nightclub act drew large audiences throughout Cuba. After relocating to Miami, Florida, in 1945, the sisters came under the guidance of Carmen Miranda and appeared in her film Copacabana. On the independent Abbott label they scored a major success in 1954 with the Sammy Cahn–Gene De Paul composition “Teach Me Tonight,” which moved more than five million copies. They returned to the U.S. charts the following year with “Boom Boom Boomerang,” and additional 1950s releases included “Too Late Now,” “Snowbound For Christmas,” “It’s Yours,” “Who Are They To Say,” “Cuckoo In The Clock,” “Give Me Time,” and “Cowboys Don’t Cry.” Babette left the group in 1958, after which their cousin Olgita DeCastro (born 1936, died 14 February 2000) joined; in 1959 the trio re-cut their earlier hit as “Teach Me Tonight Cha Cha,” an indication that their recorded popularity was waning. Despite shifting musical tastes they issued the album Sing and Rockin’ Beat in the early 1960s. More than twenty-five years later they resumed performing at Vegas World in Las Vegas in 1988, reviving 1950s favorites alongside later standards such as “New York, New York” and compensating for aging voices with abundant show-business energy.