Margarita Pracatan (born Margarita Figueroa; 11 June 1931 – 23 June 2020) was a Cuban-born novelty singer, who became well-known in the 1990s when she performed regularly on Clive James' TV show in Britain.

Biography

Margarita Figueroa was born in Santiago, Cuba. Her father was a union leader.^[1] She began to sing at home when she was three years old.^[1] Her family fled to the U.S. after the Cuban revolution. She worked in a store selling men's underwear while singing at night.^[1]

She found success in the 1990s when she was booked on numerous occasions to appear on Clive James's television show in the UK, adopting the surname "Pracatan".^[2] James showed clips of her heavily Hispanic-inflected performances of pop hits (including Lionel Richie's "Hello" and "New York, New York") on his BBC series Saturday Night Clive.^[2] According to her website, Clive James discovered her on Manhattan public-access television cable TV program in 1994 and invited her to the UK to appear on his show.^[2] He sweet-talked her into believing he was serious, and she signed up. Although he never mocked her openly, his introductions to her end-of-show performances contained teasing irony. James once said of Pracatan, "She never lets the words or melody get in her way. She is us, without the fear of failure."^[2]

Pracatan toured regularly in the United Kingdom and Australia,^[1][3] also appearing as part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival during the mid-1990s. Pracatan appeared in an episode of Real Housewives of New York City in 2019, performing a cover version of Luann de Lesseps’s “Money Can’t Buy You Class”. Radio DJ Martin Kelner also played her frequently on his BBC Night Network and BBC Radio 2 programmes.^{[citation needed]}

Pracatan died in New York in June 2020, aged 89.^[4][5][6] She was divorced with one daughter.^[1]

Discography