Bernardo Mitnik (4 September 1933 – 18 August 2023), best known as Chico Novarro, was an Argentine singer-songwriter, composer, musician, television presenter and actor. He specialized in

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

and

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 ...

compositions.

Life and career

Born in Santa Fe, the son of a Ukrainian shoemaker and a Jewish housewife of Romanian origin, Novarro started studying music at young age; as an adolescent he moved to Córdoba to cure his asthma, and there he began playing drums in a jazz band and in an orchestra. In 1956 he joined the jazz ensemble Agrupación Nuevo Jazz, which also included

Gato Barbieri Leandro "Gato" Barbieri (November 28, 1932 – April 2, 2016) was an Argentine jazz tenor saxophonist who rose to fame during the free jazz movement in the 1960s and is known for his Latin jazz recordings of the 1970s. His nickname, Gato, is Spa ...

. In 1961, he moved to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, where he briefly joined the jazz band Swing Timers, and formed the duo Los Navarros with Raúl Bonetto, recording an album for

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

. Novarro had his breakout as a cast member of the 1962-4 Canal 13 musical show , which gave him immediate notoriety and made him a teen idol. He soon started releasing successful albums, and authoring hits for other singers including

Palito Ortega Ramón Bautista Ortega (; born February 28, 1941) is an Argentine singer and actor, better known as Palito Ortega (). Ortega is an icon of Argentine popular music, and is considered one of the main representatives of the musical style called N ...

and

Violeta Rivas Ana María Francisca Adinolfi (stage name, Violeta Rivas; 4 October 1937 – 23 June 2018) was an Argentine singer and actress, known for participating in the music program ''El Club del Clan'', along with Palito Ortega, Raúl Lavié, Johnny Tedes ...

. Between late 1960s and 1970s Novarro collaborated several times with

María Elena Walsh María Elena Walsh (1 February 1930 – 10 January 2011) was an Argentine poet, novelist, musician, playwright, writer and composer, mainly known for her songs and books for children. Her work includes many of the most popular children's boo ...

. In the early 1970s, he collaborated with

Eladia Blázquez Eladia Blázquez (February 24, 1931 – August 31, 2005) was an Argentine tango singer and composer. Born in Gerli, Buenos Aires Province, ''El corazón al sur'' is considered her most popular tango. Biography Born to a poor family of Spanis ...

, who introduced him to the

composition. Another notable collaboration was with

Rubén Juárez Rubén Juárez (5 November 1947 – 31 May 2010) was an Argentine bandoneón, bandoneonist and singer-songwriter of Tango (dance), tango. Juárez studied the bandoneón from the age of six. In 1956, he entered the Youth Orchestra of Club Atlético ...

, who starting from 1983 recorded several of his songs, also duetting with him in "Cordón" and "El último round". Starting from the late 1980s he had a large stage success with the show ''Arráncame la vida''. Among Novarro's major hits were "Carta de un león a otro", the

OTI Festival 1979 The OTI Festival 1979 was the eighth edition of the annual OTI Festival. It was held in Caracas, Venezuela after decided in a draw. Organised by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) and host broadcaster Venevisión, the contest ...

winner "Cuenta conmigo", "Algo contigo", "El camaleón", "Cómo". During his career he composed over sixty hundred songs, as well as film scores and incidental music. Beyond boleros and tangos, he also composed pop, rock, jazz, and

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans during colonial times, and Europeans. Examples include: ...

songs. He also appeared in several films, mostly comedies. He died on 18 August 2023, at the age of 89.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Novarro, Chico 1933 births 2023 deaths Argentine singer-songwriters Argentine composers Argentine people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Illustrious Citizens of Buenos Aires People from Santa Fe, Argentina