Elizabeth Taylor Pecanins (1954 – December 13, 2016) was an American-born Mexican singer,

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

. Known in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

as ''Queen of the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

Biography

Betsy Pecanins was born to a

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

mother and an American father and grew up in an art-conscious family. For example, her mother Ana María Pecanins and her aunt Teresa founded the Galería Pecanins art gallery in Mexico City and Barcelona. She spent her first years in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In 1977 she emigrated to Mexico to pursue her artistic career, where she settled. In 1980 she recorded her first album, ''Viendo tus ojos''. Throughout her career she suffered the consequences of the culture of machismo prevalent in Mexico, and the lack of belief in a woman being able to be a credible musician in her own right. The musical style of Pecanins was described by blues singer Papa John Creach as "unique. You must have black blood hidden in your body," he commented to her. Her music was employed in such films as; ''La reina de la noche'' (about the singer Lucha Reyes, where she performed the soundtrack), ''

Hasta morir Hasta may refer to: Latin *Hasta (spear) *Hasta Pompeia, a Roman town today known as Asti Sanskrit *Hasta (hand), a Sanskrit word meaning hand gesture or position *Hasta (unit), a measure of length *Hasta (nakshatra), the thirteenth nakshatra of ...

'', ''Dos crímenes'', '' Cilantro y perejil'' and ''

Asesino en serio Asesino (Spanish for "assassin" or "murderer") is an American deathgrind supergroup and a side project of Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares. The band has featured members of Brujeria, Fear Factory, Sepultura, Sadistic Intent, Possessed, Minist ...

''. On August 29, 2015, she received a tribute to her artistic career at Teatro de la Ciudad Esperanza Iris in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, where singers such as Iraida Noriega and

Regina Orozco Regina Orozco (born 18 February 1964; Mexico City, Mexico) is a Mexican actress and singer, best known for her roles in Mexican films. Orozco won an Ariel Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film ''Profundo Carmesí'' (1996). Subsequ ...

participated, among others. Pecanins had stayed away from the stages until that date due to complications caused by the

spasmodic dysphonia Spasmodic dysphonia, also known as laryngeal dystonia, is a disorder in which the muscles that generate a person's voice go into periods of spasm. This results in breaks or interruptions in the voice, often every few sentences, which can make a pe ...

affecting her vocal cords. Pecanins died of a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

at the age of 62 on December 13, 2016.

Discography

* ''Viendo tus ojos'' (Discos Pentagrama, 1980) * ''Vent amb veus'' (Discos Pentagrama, 1981) * ''Canta blues'' (1985) * ''El sabor de mis palabras'' (1987) * ''La reina de la noche'' (1994) * ”Nada Que Perder” ( Discos Milan 1994 ) Betsy Pecanins • Guillermo Briseno * ''El efecto tequila'' (Discos Milán, 1995) * ''Sólo Beatles'' (Discos Milán, 1996) * ''Recuento'' (1997) * ''Esta que habita mi cuerpo'' (1999) * ''Tequila azul y batuta'' (2003) * ''Lara'' (2004) * ''Blues en el alma (2006)'' * ''Sones (2009)'' After Sones (2009), she released no further albums.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pecanins, Betsy 1954 births 2016 deaths Mexican women composers American people of Catalan descent Mexican people of Catalan descent American emigrants to Mexico People from Yuma, Arizona Blues singer-songwriters Ranchera singers Mexican jazz musicians 20th-century Mexican women singers 21st-century Mexican women singers