Odilio González (born 5 March 1937), known by his stage name , is a
Puerto Rican singer, guitarist and music composer who has been singing and composing for more than 65 years. He has mostly played traditional Puerto Rican folkloric music, songs dedicated to Puerto Rico's .
Career
González was born in 1937 in
Piletas
Piletas is a barrio in the municipality of Lares, Puerto Rico. Its population in 2010 was 5,671.
History
Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War under the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898 and became an un ...
barrio in
Lares
Lares ( , ; archaic , singular ''Lar'') were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an amalgam of these.
Lares ...
, a municipality of
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
. He became a popular child star after a series of early radio performances in the capital city of
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to:
Places Argentina
* San Juan Province, Argentina
* San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province
* San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province
* San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...
.
González has sung in the island's ancient traditional poetic song form, the ''
décima
A décima is a ten-line stanza of poetry. The most popular form is called décima espinela after Vicente Espinel (1550–1624), a Spanish writer, poet, and musician from the Siglo de Oro who used it extensively throughout his compositions.
The dé ...
'' (also known as "
jíbaro Jivaro or Jibaro, also spelled Hivaro or Hibaro, may refer to:
* Jíbaro (Puerto Rico), mountain-dwelling peasants in Puerto Rico
* Jíbaro music, a Puerto Rican musical genre
* Jivaroan peoples
The Jivaroan peoples are the indigenous peoples ...
" music), as well as performing mainstream pop music. His stage name is "El Jibarito de Lares". He debuted on the
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
stage in 1958, singing before Puerto Ricans in the
Teatro Puerto Rico
The Teatro Puerto Rico was a music hall focused on the Latino community in the South Bronx section of New York City. During the 1940s to 1950s it presented ''la farándula,'' a vaudeville-style package of Spanish-language events, and attracted ...
. His first recordings of traditional ''jíbaro'', available from
Ansonia Records, were recorded in New York City during that period.
Fellow Lares native
José Feliciano
José Montserrate Feliciano García (born September 10, 1945) () is a Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song " ...
's singing style was influenced by González during his youth.
González crossed over into pop music in 1962, when he recorded ''Celos Sin Motivo'', composed by
Ismael Santiago. Another of his successful recordings was ("I had a light"), a Christmas song recorded in the early 1970s.
Gonzalez continues to perform around the island as well as on trips to the
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 ...
to sing for older Puerto Rican expatriates, including a visit to
Hawaii to sing before the Puerto Rican diapora there.
Selected discography
Some of González music includes:
Albums
*
*
Singles
*
*
See also
*
List of Puerto Ricans
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Odilio
20th-century Puerto Rican male singers
Living people
People from Lares, Puerto Rico
1937 births