Sylvia Regina Rexach González (January 22, 1922 – October 20, 1961), was a Puerto Rican comedy scriptwriter, poet, singer and composer of

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 ...

Early years

Rexach was born and raised in

Santurce, Puerto Rico Santurce (, from the Basque ''Santurtzi'' which means Saint George) is a barrio or district in the municipality of San Juan. Its population in 2020 was 69,469. It is also the biggest and most populated of all the barrios in the capital city wit ...

. Her parents were Julio E. Rexach of Fajardo, and María Teresa González, of San Juan, Puerto Rico. There she attended public school and received her primary education. She then went to a private school where she finished her secondary education before attending the Central High School of Santurce. During her high school years, when she was 14 years old, she wrote several poems which were to become part of her musical compositions. She amazed her teachers when she composed "''Di, Corazón''" (Tell me, Heart) and "''Matiz de Amor''" (Calm Love). Rexach also learned how to play musical instruments, such as the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

, the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

at a young age.

World War II

Rexach enrolled in the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and ...

where she was going to take a pre-legal course; however, when the United States entered World War II in 1942, Rexach dropped-out of the university and joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

as a member of the WACS ( Women Army Corps Service), where she served as an office clerk.

Post World War II

After the war, Rexach was discharged from the armed forces. She married army officer William J. Riley with whom she had three children which included actress/singer Sharon Riley. The marriage eventually ended in a divorce and she returned to Puerto Rico, where she went to work for a radio station as a comical script writer, first for producer

Tommy Muñiz Lucas Tomás Muñiz Ramírez (4 February 1922 – 15 January 2009), better known as Tommy Muñiz, was a Puerto Rican comedy and drama actor, media producer, businessman and network owner. He is considered to be one of the pioneering figures of ...

, and later for comedian Ramón Rivero "Diplo". She was the founder of the first Combo in Puerto Rico consisting entirely of women. They were named Las Damiselas (The Damsels), and besides Rexach included:

Idalia Rosario Idalia may refer to: * ''Idalia'' (genus), genus of moths Places * Idalia, Queensland, suburb of Townsville, Queensland, Australia * Idalia, Colorado, unincorporated community in Yuma County, Colorado, US * Idalia, Missouri, unincorporated com ...

, Marta Romero, Millita Quiñones, Elena Rita Ortiz, and Ketty Cabán.

Singing career

In 1951, Rexach had a newspaper column called "A Sotto Voce" where she was a music critic. She was also a co-founder of The Puerto Rican Society of Authors, Composers and Music Editors (''Sociedad Puertorriqueña de Autores, Compositores y Editores de Música''). She was its Secretary Director, a position which held until the day of her death.La Fundación Nacional para la Cultura Popular
/ref> The tones of Rexach's compositions varied from the soft and romantic to the harsh and tormented. Among her compositions that became hits in Puerto Rico and abroad were: "''Alma Adentro''" (Inner Soul, actually a homage to a brother who died in an accident), "''Idilio''", "''Olas y Arenas''" (Waves and Sands), "''Mi Versión''" (My Version), "''Nave sin Rumbo''" (Wandering Ship), "''Di, Corazón''" and "''Matiz de Amor''". She even wrote a humorous novelty song, "''Cuchú cuchía''", which features

Rafael Hernández Marín Rafael Hernández Marín (October 24, 1892 – December 11, 1965) was a Puerto Rican songwriter, author of hundreds of popular songs in the Latin American repertoire. He specialized in Puerto Rican styles such as the canción, bolero and guarach ...

as a co-composer. Sylvia Rexach, was an alcoholic at the time of her death October 20, 1961, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her death certificate states the cause as an intestinal obstruction, complicated by a duodenal atresia. She was buried at Cementerio Buxeda in

Carolina, Puerto Rico Carolina (; ) is a city and municipality located on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico. It lies immediately east of the capital San Juan and Trujillo Alto; north of Gurabo and Juncos; and west of Canóvanas and Loíza. Carolina is spread over ...

Legacy

Her compositions have been recorded by many other artists, such as

Marco Antonio Muñiz Marco Antonio Muñiz (born 3 March 1933) is a Mexican singer from Jalisco, Mexico. Known all over Latin America, he also acted in the 1965 film '' Sinful'' ( Spanish: El Pecador). He belongs to the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Early life and car ...

Danny Rivera Danny Rivera (born 27 February 1945) is a singer and songwriter born in San Juan whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is well known in Puerto Rico for his political activism. In 2008, Rivera acquired Dominican Republic citizenship. After 12 ye ...

, Gilberto Monroig,

Chucho Avellanet Chucho Avellanet, nicknamed "Chucho", is a Puerto Rican singer and comedic actor of Spanish-Català descent. External links Online Discography See also * List of Puerto Ricans {{DEFAULTSORT:Avellanet, Chucho Living people 20th-century P ...

Lucecita Benítez Luz Esther Benítez Rosado (born July 22, 1942), also known as Lucecita, is a Puerto Rican singer, part of the country's new wave popular music. Born in Bayamon, a large city in Puerto Rico, she participated in amateur radio shows. Benítez's m ...

, Juan Luis Barry,

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...

Ednita Nazario Edna María Nazario Figueroa (born April 11, 1955) is a Puerto Rican musician, singer, and composer who has achieved stardom both at home and abroad. She has been in the music business from a young age and has released twenty-three (23) studio ...

Lourdes Pérez Lourdes Pérez (born Bernardita de Lourdes Pérez Cruz on February 12, 1961) is a prolific Puerto Rican contemporary recording artist, songwriter, composer, arranger, poet, contralto vocalist, oral historian and guitarist. She is also one of few ...

and

Lunna Lunna (born June 30, 1960; born María Socorro García de la NocedaGarcia de la Noceda is her paternal surname) is a Puerto Rican singer of popular music and jazz who was the director of the television show ''Objetivo Fama'', the Latin version ...

. Two television specials were made about Sylvia's life, "''Sylvia, en tu Memoria''" (Sylvia, in your Memory) and

Ángela Meyer Ángela Meyer (born August 2, 1947) is a Puerto Rican actress, comedian, producer of television and theatrical works, and politician. Meyer is the founder and/or co-founder of various entertainment production companies. Among the production compani ...

's "''El fondo del Dolor''" (In the Deepest Pain) starring Sharon Riley, Sylvia's daughter. In 2001, Rexach was posthumously inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame. There is a theater "El Teatro Sylvia Rexach" named after Rexach in San Juan and in the

Luis A. Ferre Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archa ...

Center of Fine Arts, there is a Sylvia Rexach Cafe Theater. On May 29, 2014, the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico honored 12 illustrious women who by virtue of their merits and legacies stand out in the history of Puerto Rico with plaques in the "Plaza en Honor a la Mujer Puertorriqueña" (Plaza Honoring Puerto Rican Women) in San Juan. Rexach was among those honored.La Mujer en nuestra historia
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rexach, Sylvia 1922 births 1961 deaths People from San Juan, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican Army personnel Puerto Rican women composers 20th-century Puerto Rican women singers Puerto Rican poets Puerto Rican singer-songwriters Puerto Rican women in the military United States Army soldiers Women's Army Corps soldiers Women in the United States Army Women in World War II Women in Latin music