Chavela Vargas (1919-2012) was born Isabel Vargas Lizano in San Joaquín Flores, Costa Rica, April 17, 1919, Chavela Vargas ran away from home to Mexico at age 14. To support herself she sang on the streets of Mexico City. She started to sing professionally and established herself singing Mexican folk songs known as rancheras. Typically sung by broken hearted men, Vargas instead sang the rancheras with great emotion in a gravelly voice while drinking, smoking and chasing women. During the 1950s Chavela became known for her performances by tourists in Acapulco. In 1961 she recorded her first album Noche de Bohemia, and more than 70 albums followed. She eventually became a huge star. Chavela is also recognized for her contribution to other genres of popular Latin American music. She was an influential interpreter in the Americas and Europe, muse to figures such as Pedro Almodóvar, hailed for her haunting performances. She was called “la voz áspera de la ternura”, the rough voice of tenderness. The Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, presented her with a Latin Grammy in 2007. By the 1980s, heavy drinking took its toll, and Chavela disappeared from the music world. She was taken in by an indigenous family who had no idea who she was. The family nursed her back to health and sobriety and by 1981, Chavela started performing again. At the age of 83, Chavela performed for the first time at Carnegie Hall in New York. The singer passed away in 2012 in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
Find her plaque on Market St between Noe and Sanchez