Everything Latin is in right now, and that includes CHARO -- the original "Cuchi-Cuchi" girl. The performer recently moved back to the mainland following more than a decade of self-imposed exile in Hawaii.
"When my baby turned five, we didn't have any children to invite for his birthday," Charo recalls. "And I made a decision. I didn't want my son to become a typical show business kid who grows up and writes a book called Cuchi-Cuchi Dearest. So we canceled everything -- Las Vegas, Atlantic City, New York. We canceled Broadway -- I was supposed to do the life of CARMEN MIRANDA."
While in Hawaii, Charo and husband KJELL RASTEN ran a Mexican restaurant. Charo entertained at clubs around the island until the Hilton Hawaiian Village built her a showroom. She entertained international audiences every night while playing mamasita during the day. The family moved to Beverly Hills when son SHEL graduated from high school and got accepted at USC.
And as excited as Charo is to be back, this time around things are a bit different. Charo has reinvented herself as a serious guitarist. In 1994, she released the flamenco-inspired CD Guitar Passion, which went platinum and earned her the Female Pop Album of the Year Award at the 1995 Billboard International Latin Music Conference. She was also voted Best Flamenco Guitarist two years in a row in Guitar Player magazine's readers poll.
Those who only know the "Cuchi-Cuchi" side of Charo will be surprised to learn that as a child she studied with ANDRÉS SEGOVIA, the father of modern classical guitar music. But when she first came to America, no one took her seriously.
"For many years, it was horrible," Charo states. "I'd ask, 'Excuse me, can I play my guitar?' They'd tell me, 'Shut up and move your hips.' That's what it was, but now I do both."
Christened MARIA ROSARIO PILAR MARTINEZ MOLINA BAEZA, she was nicknamed Charo as a child. Her father was a lawyer who was exiled to Casablanca during the FRANCO regime, and her mother grew vegetables to pay for her daughter's guitar lessons.
Charo's first U.S. album, Cuchi-Cuchi, from Charo and the Salsoul Orchestra, went platinum more than 20 years ago, and today she is still wowing the public. But she is doing it her way. If you see her perform her show, the finale is entirely Charo and her guitar. And the response from audiences has been overwhelming!
"I am so glad to be back in Las Vegas because it is a part of me," she reveals. "Las Vegas has energy. Performing is like [having] my birthday, and the audience loves it."
