Cuban singer and actress
Lucrecia Pérez Sáez is a Spanish-Cuban singer and actress. She has worked in various movies and with several long established artists, including Celia Cruz, Chavela Vargas, Joaquín Sabina, Andy Garcia, Manzanita and Lluís Llach.
Artistic career
At the early age of seven, Lucrecia began studying piano and music and was certified with a specialty in piano at the Instituto Superior de Arte de Cuba. She studied singing with Isolina Carrillo, the composer of the famous bolero "Dos Gardenias", popularized in Spain by Cuban singer Antonio Machín.
Soon after completing her education, Lucrecia joined La Orquesta Anacaona, an all-female group which, since its founding in 1932, had become a Cuban institution. In the 1980s and early 1990s, she made several international tours with the group.
It was with Anacaona, as lead vocalist, keyboardist and arranger, that Lucrecia first arrived in Spain. Later, in 1993, she left Anacaona and returned to settle in Barcelona, where she has remained. Since establishing her solo career there, she has become very active in Spanish film and television as well as the music scene. Though not yet well known in the English-speaking world, she is a celebrated figure not only in Spain and, increasingly, in Latin America and the Hispanic community of the United States.
Although she personally eschews such comparisons, Lucrecia has been touted as a successor to the great Celia Cruz, with whom she was a close friend.[1]
Lucrecia's 2010 Álbum de Cuba was nominated for Best Contemporary Tropical Album in the 2010 Latin Grammy Awards.[2]
Since leaving Anacaona and becoming an expatriate of Cuba, the Cuban government has not allowed her to return, but she was able to bring her mother to Barcelona, which they both make their permanent home.
Through the length of her career, Lucrecia has collaborated or performed with numerous masters of the art, including Celia Cruz, Paquito D’Rivera, Chano Domínguez, Joaquín Sabina, Wyclef Jean, Carlos "Patato" Valdes, Carel Kraayenhof, Willy Chirino, Chavela Vargas, Lluís Llach, Gilberto Gil, Israel "Cachao" López, Andy García, Carlos Jean, Nuno da Câmara Pereira (Portuguese Fado singer, Nuno da Câmara Pereira, etc.
Among her collaborations should be noted Cachao: The Last Mambo, a winning album at the Latin Grammy awards in 2011 and for the 2012 Grammy Awards. Based on a memorable concert recorded live in Miami in September 2007, the album was as tribute to Israel "Cachao" Lopez celebrating the 80-year musical career of that great master.
As an artist, Lucrecia has combined her musical side with television, having been involved in programs of considerable success in Spain. On Televisión Española, she was host of the successful children's program Los Lunnis.[3] Lucrecia has also demonstrated her facet as a writer. In 2004, she made her debut as a writer of children's stories with “Besitos de chocolate” (Little Chocolate Kisses) ( "Tales of my childhood"), after which have followed two more books from the same collection: The Valley of the Tenderness (2005) and All the Colors of the World (2008), all in collaboration with Los Lunnis. Continuing in this vein, she has edited her disk and video La Casita de Lucrecia.
In June 2012 she began the tour "Eternally Cuba".
In 2019, Lucrecia starred in Celia: El Musical, a musical about the life of Celia Cruz, at the Lehman Arts Center.[4]
