Paloma San Basilio
Who is Paloma San Basilio?
Paloma San Basilio (Madrid, November 22, 1950) is one of Spain’s most prestigious singers and actresses in melodic song. She spent her childhood in Seville and her teenage years in Lugo, and studied for several years at Madrid’s Complutense University before starting her artistic career in 1975, after being chosen to present a television programme. That same year she recorded her debut album, “Sombras,” which drew notable international attention, followed by the more sentimental “Dónde vas” (1977), which cemented her popularity across Latin America.
Career
In 1980 she starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Evita,” triumphing in theatres in Madrid, Barcelona, San Juan de Puerto Rico, Caracas, Panama, Santo Domingo, Bogotá, Quito, Lima, Santiago de Chile and Miami. Throughout the 1980s she released a string of highly successful albums, including “Dama,” “Paloma” — featuring the song “¿Por qué me abandonaste?” — “Vuela alto” (1986), produced by Juan Carlos Calderón, and “Grande” (1987), which achieved platinum sales and a tour lasting more than six months. In 1985 she represented Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest with “La fiesta terminó,” finishing fourteenth.
In 1991 she gave a concert with tenor Plácido Domingo in Miami, later released on video and record to major commercial success, and in 1994 she sang before 20,000 people in Bogotá alongside tenor José Carreras. In 1997 she returned to musical theatre with “El hombre de La Mancha,” alongside José Sacristán, which ran for two years in Madrid; in 2001 she starred in “My Fair Lady” for nineteen months at Madrid’s Teatro Coliseum, a production that earned her the nickname “queen of music” from specialist critics, and in 2005 she premiered “Victor/Victoria” at the same theatre. On November 1, 2006, she received the Latin Grammy for Musical Excellence in New York.
Discography and legacy
Over a career spanning more than thirty albums, Paloma San Basilio has alternated large-scale melodic productions — such as “De mil amores” (1991), “Mediterránea” (1992) and “Al este del Edén” (1994) — with more personal projects, including “Perlas” (1999), on which she sings alongside her daughter Ivana Gómez, and “Escorpio” (2000), a bolero album produced by Bebu Silvetti. Her tours “Tour Encantada” (2008), with a symphony orchestra conducted by Luis Cobos, and “PSB,” in a stripped-back format of piano, saxophone and double bass, have let her revisit both her greatest hits and the copla songs that shaped her Seville childhood.