Luis Felipe Landáez Requena (17 August 1931,

Higuerote Higuerote () is the capital city of Brión Municipality, located in the coastal region of Barlovento, in the state of Miranda, Venezuela, approximately an hour and a half from Caracas. Its average annual temperature is about 27 degrees Celsius ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

– 16 November 2008, Peñalolén,

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, Chile) was a Venezuelan-Chilean cumbia singer who was popular in Chile for his songs "La piragua" and "Macondo".

Biography

Early life and career

Born in Higuerote on 17 August 1931, Landáez moved to

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

when he was little. As a young man, he worked in his family's mechanical workshop, while at night he worked on music. On 8 August 1953, he won a song contest in Caracas with a song called "Billos Busca Sintantes", which served as a springboard to professionally dedicating himself to singing. He began his professional career at the age of 21, as a crooner of different orchestras: Manuel Ramos, Casablanca, Caracas Swing Boys and Arnoldo Nali. After participating in some musical groups, such as Billo's Caracas Boys and

Luis Alfonzo Larrain Luis Alfonzo Larrain (22 July 1911 – 4 July 1996), was a Venezuelan composer, music director and producer, sometimes known as the ''Magician of the dancing Music''. Luis Alfonzo Larrain died on 4 July 1996, in Caracas. Some of his works: ...

's Orchestra, he began his solo career at the end of the 1950s.

As a soloist

In 1960, Landáez toured Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile. The latter arrived on May 30, 1962 and joined the tour of many nueva ola artists. He eventually decided to settle in Chile and became a musical icon, recording 45 cumbia albums. He decided to return to Chile in 1974, where he married for the second time Alicia Vera, a young officer of Carabineros, who came from Santiago; they had four sons, Luis Felipe, Pedro, Pablo and Juan. In 1975, he left for Caracas to enter a new stage of his career playing

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 ...

, alternating his labor commitments between Venezuela and Chile. In the 1980s, he tried to relaunch his career in Chile by making several shows in , led by

Enrique Maluenda Hector Enrique Maluenda Meneses (born August 5, 1935, in Santiago, Chile), better known as Enrique Maluenda, is a Chilean television show host, politician and fireman. Maluenda forged a career that saw him get work not only in Chile, but in othe ...

, without reaching the fame enjoyed in the 1970s. In the early 90s, Landáez re-acquired relevance when he was invited to participate in a new version of his classic "(Los Cien Años de) Macondo", made by the group

Sexual Democracia Sexual Democracia are a Chilean folk-rockSexual Democracia
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. The rejuvenated song was very well received. After the breakup of his last marriage in 2000, Landáez settled in Chile, performing until 2004.

Controversy with Tommy Rey

In December 2004, he accused of cheapening the profession of singing by charging $500,000 per show. The lead singer, Patricio Zúñiga (professionally known as ), responded to these criticisms by describing Landáez as an "envious old fool".

Death

On 16 November 2008, after staying two weeks in the Hospital Doctor Luis Tisné in Peñalolén, Landáez died at the age of 77 from cardiac arrest. During his life, he married five times and had 13 children. At the time of his death, he also suffered from diabetes and kidney problems. The wake was held at the Parish of La Asunción, and on 18 November, he was buried in the Mausoleum of the Artists, located in the Cementerio General de Santiago.

References