Mexican musical icon Isabel “Chavela” Vargas died at the age of 93 from heart and respiratory problems in a Cuernavaca hospital on Sunday.
Born in Costa Rica in 1919, Vargas moved to Mexico aged 14 to pursue a singing career, quickly adopting the country as her own and achieving great fame in the 1950s through to the mid-1970s.
Although she sang several different styles, Vargas is best known for her renditions of Mexican ranchera songs. Blessed with a unique, soulful voice, she recorded definitive versions of classics such as “La Llorona” and “Piensa en Mi.”Vargas did not make public her homosexuality until 2000, but she challenged gender stereotypes throughout her career, exuding an iconic outlaw image by dressing in men’s clothing, packing a pistol and downing copious amounts of tequila.
In the late 1970s Vargas largely retired from music, as she endured a 15-year battle with alcoholism. Her career was reborn in the 1990s, when Vargas starred in several films made by Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, who considered her his muse and hailed her “rough voice of tenderness.”
A memorial service was held at Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes this week, to the strains of mariachi and ranchera music.