Lissette

Lissette Álvarez is a singer, songwriter and record producer from Cuba. She is best known for recording a Spanish language version of Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart in 1985.

Early life

Lisette was born in Lima,in 1949, Peru because her famous parents, Cuban TV stars Olga Chorens and Tony Alvarez,"Olga y Tony", were touring South America at the time. Lissette made her first recording, the children's song "El Ratoncito Miguel", along with her parents when she was just 5 years old. (The song eventually became a hit.) The family lived in Havana.

She and her sister were sent to live in the United States in the early 1960s through Operation Peter Pan, a US government sponsored program in conjunction with the Catholic Welfare Bureau that transported 14,000 Cuban children from Cuba to the United States. The scheme was devised for families opposed to the Cuban revolution of 1959, who feared that the government would indoctrinate their children into communism.

After 3 years in the US, she and her sister were reunited with their parents in Miami and the whole family moved to Puerto Rico.

Career

Lissette started her career in Puerto Rico as an adolescent, then later moved to Miami. She hosted her own shows in the Telemundo network in Puerto Rico for several years and did Emmy Award winning TV specials at Channel 10 and Channel 4 in Miami, Florida. Lissette had a successful recording career having more than 30 albums including 8 gold albums and 2 platinum albums. Lissette is an acknowledged singer and songwriter that has produced most of her albums. She has received countless awards during her singing career, including a UNICEF award for her humanitarian work with children.

In Latin America, she is known as: "an interpreter of romantic songs influenced by the ballad" (Cuban Music from A to Z, page 12).

Family

She was first married to singer Chucho Avellanet. Together, they hosted "El Show de Chucho y Lissette" on Telemundo. Lissette is presently married to Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter Willy Chirino. They reside in Miami.

References

Cuban Music from A to Z. By Helio Orovio. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004. xi, 235 p. ISBN 0-8223-3212-4
* http://books.google.com/books?id=XGzKzOH9vawChttp://www.musicofpuertorico.com/index.php/artists/lissette/

External links

*allmusic|id=11:mejqoa8abijn|label=Lissette
* [http://www.lissette.com Lissette's Website]