Adelina Garcia (December 16, 1923 – 1999) was a Mexican-American or Chicana singer. She remains one of the most famous American singers of the ''

bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has ...

''.

Biography

Adelina Garcia was born in December 1923 in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

and moved as a child to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, where she first expressed interest in becoming a singer. Garcia spent most of her early childhood in that northern Mexican city, where she started to become famous by singing

s at the XEP

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

. By the time she had reached her

teenage Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...

years, she was well known across Chihuahua and other northern Mexican states. In 1937, Garcia returned to Phoenix, but she did not stay there too long, establishing herself in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

at the age of fifteen. It was during that year that Garcia was signed by Columbia Records, a company that would release some of her

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

s and take her on a tour across the United States. In essence, she became a

teen idol A teen idol is a celebrity with a large teenage fan base. Teen idols are generally young but are not necessarily teenagers. An idol's popularity may be limited to teens, or may extend to all age groups. By region Asia East Asia possess ...

among

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

teenagers in the States. Garcia expanded her celebrity to South America during the 1940s, touring Brazil and some other countries in that continent. In 1944, she had her first concert in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

. In Mexico City, she participated at radio shows on the XEW station, which helped cement her fame in that country's non-northern states. Her participation at those shows also allowed her to become well known in

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and the Caribbean. Garcia met composer and musician Gonzalo Curiel while in Mexico City. She and Curiel became friends and collaborators, and Curiel visited Brazil with Garcia many times after the pair met. In Brazil, Garcia made a number of albums for the Odeon label. Among Garcia's best known songs of the 1940s are "Muchachita" ("Young Girl"), "Vereda Tropical" ("Tropical River"), written, composed and originally sung by Mexican author Gonzalo Curiel, "Desesperadamente" ("Desperately") and "Mi Tormento" ("My Own Torment"). After touring heavily across the American Southwest and in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, Garcia re-settled in Los Angeles during 1955. She met musician Jose Heredia, whom she married and formed a family with. After marriage, Garcia decided to begin retiring. She started slowly, initially reducing her number of performances per year, until she stopped singing altogether. In 1997, her musical and photo collection was bought by the CEMA, a repository of historic documents from California's ethnic history. The collection consists of fourteen recordings, photos, programs and other miscellaneous items about her life. She is the mother of LA-based

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and jazzrock drummer Joey Heredia, Freddy Heredia, and artist Angel Gustavo Garcia.

References

External links

Guide to Adelina Garcia collection
at the

California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA) is an archival institution that houses collections of primary source documents from the history of minority ethnic groups in California. The documents, which include manuscripts, slide photograph ...

The Official Site of Drummer Joey Heredia

The official site of artist Angel Gustavo Garcia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Adelina 1923 births 1999 deaths American musicians of Mexican descent Hispanic and Latino American musicians Musicians from Phoenix, Arizona American expatriates in Mexico Hispanic and Latino American women singers