CECILIA

The Spanish folk artist Cecilia was born Evangelina Sobredo Galanes in Madrid, on October 11, 1948. The daughter of diplomats, she spent many of her early years traveling internationally. Through active travel she learned English, and subsequently most of her early songs were written in that language. In 1970 she formed a group called Expresion, with whom she recorded her first singles, "Have You Ever Seen a Blue Man?" and "Try and Catch the Sun." Cecilia continued to record through 1970 and 1971 for CBS (now Sony BMG) before recording her first solo record in 1972, entitled Cecilia, which produced many of her early hits like "Dama Dama," "Fui," "Señor y Dueno," and "Nada de Nada." Throughout the mid- to late '70s Cecilia continued to write songs that met with success and acclaim, like "Querida España" and "Amor de Medianoche." In that time, recognition of her work continued to grow, thanks to concerts given at songwriting festivals and appearances on Televisión Española. In 1976, during the time she was working on an album dedicated to poet Valle Inclan, Cecilia was killed in a car accident as she returned from a concert in Vigo. The summer after her death, her songs "El Viaje" and "Lluvia" were released to pay homage to her, and were met with a strong public reception. Since that time, many collections of her work have been released, and continue to be popular and well-loved. ~ Evan C. Gutierrez, Rovi