Rodolfo Olivares (born April 19, 1947 in

Camargo, Tamaulipas Camargo is a municipality in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It is located on the US border, across from Rio Grande City, Texas. It has an official population of 14,933 inhabitants (2010 census) and an international bridge. The municipal seat ...

, Mexico), known as Fito Olivares is a Mexican

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: ...

musician. He is a son of María Cristina Olivares and Mucio Olivares. He spent his childhood on a ranch of Rechinadores, Tamaulipas. In the school of this ranch he learned to play the

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

that his father bought him. His father Mucio Olivares was a good saxophonist and they started practicing with the saxophone together when he was 12. He graduated from the commercial academy in 1961 and began to work keeping accounts of some businesses. He began to play professionally in 1963, at the age of 16, in Camargo, Tamaulipas.

Career

With a local group in 1962 he was invited by Abel Martínez, Bernardo Gómez and Noé Santos to be part of the Duet Estrella in

Ciudad Miguel Alemán Ciudad Miguel Alemán, known prior to 1950 as San Pedro de Roma, is a city in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, located across the Rio Grande from the U.S. city of Roma, Texas. The two are linked by the Roma – Ciudad Miguel Alemán International ...

, Tam. In 1963 he composed his first song "Ya No Eres Mia" that would lead an LP of the Duet Estrella. In 1979 Fito became part of Tam and Tex and he wrote such songs as "La Otra Musiquera", "Mi Tamaulipeca", and "Flor de Lirio". Fito Olivares y su Grupo La Pura Sabrosura was born in 1980 in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

after they released their first album ''Mi Profesión''. It was recorded under the label

Gil Records Gil or GIL may refer to: Places * Gil Island (disambiguation), one of several islands by that name * Gil, Iran, a village in Hormozgan Province, Iran * Hil, Azerbaijan, also spelled ''Gil, a village in Azerbaijan * Hiloba, also spelled ''Gil, ...

. His biggest hit, “Juana La Cubana,” was nominated for

Lo Nuestro Awards The Lo Nuestro Awards or Premios Lo Nuestro (Spanish for "Our Thing") is a Spanish-language awards show honoring the best of Latin music, presented by Univision, a Spanish-language television network based in the United States. The awards began in ...

, and his next hit, “El Colesterol,” won an

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

award in 1996 for best song in the regional Mexican category. Fito has his own recording studio, Japonica Studio, and his own publisher where he records his songs, Sabrosura Music.

References

1947 births Living people People from Tamaulipas {{Mexico-musician-stub