La Chelito
Who is La Chelito?
Consuelo Portela, known artistically as La Chelito, was a Spanish singer and cuplé performer born in Cuba in 1885, when the island was still a Spanish colony and her father, a captain in the Civil Guard, was stationed there; the family returned to Spain just days after her birth. She became one of the most popular figures of early-20th-century cuplé, a genre of light, saucy song that she pushed to its boldest limits for the era.
Career
She is credited with introducing the rhythm of the rumba into the world of cuplé, and her repertoire includes celebrated titles such as “Los Becerros,” “La Noche de Novios” and “La Pulga.” Her popularity on the variety stage coincided with a single foray into film, in 1927, with the movie “El Conde de Maravillas,” directed by José Buchs.
In 1928 her life took a new direction when she retired from the stage to go into business: she set up a theater and a café in the premises that would later become Madrid’s Teatro Muñoz Seca, an early example of a performer turned entrepreneur. She died in Madrid in November 1959, leaving behind one of the most remembered voices of Spanish cuplé.