La Petróleo (born 1944) is a Spanish vedette.

Biography

La Petróleo was born in

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

in 1944, during the dictatorship of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

. She began wearing typically feminine clothing at the age of 13, and from an early age she was accepted by her mother, who was single, as well as by the neighbors in the neighborhood. During the 1960s, La Petróleo was a regular customer of the Bar Constancia, one of the few shelters for the LGBT community during the dictatorship, located in the Santa María neighborhood, where she also met the vedette La Salvaora, with whom she formed a long personal and professional relationship. During the

Spanish transition The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as (; ) or (), is a period of History of Spain, modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system ...

she founded the group Las Folclóricas Gaditanas with her partner La Salvaora. Throughout her career she performed in numerous theaters in Spain, even performing in various Latin American countries with artists such as

Rocío Dúrcal María de los Ángeles de las Heras Ortiz (4 October 1944 – 25 March 2006), better known as Rocío Dúrcal (), was a Spanish singer and actress with a career spanning more than four decades. She performed pop music, bolero, mariachi and romanti ...

, Lola Flores or

Rocío Jurado María del Rocío Mohedano Jurado (, 18 September 1943 – 1 June 2006), better known as Rocío Jurado, was a Spanish singer and actress. She was born in Chipiona (Cádiz) and nicknamed "La más grande" ("The Greatest"). In 2000 in New York Ci ...

Legacy

On 30 July 2022, in commemoration of LGBT Pride month, the Cádiz city council paid tribute to La Petróleo and her partner, vedette La Salvaora with a street named after her. The street, which was previously called San Nicolás street, was renamed Artistas Salvaora y Petróleo street.

References

{{authority control 1944 births Living people People from Cádiz 21st-century Spanish women Spanish vedettes Spanish transgender women Spanish transgender entertainers