Concha Piquer
María Concepción Piquer López (December 8, 1906, Valencia, Spain – December 12, 1990, Madrid), known professionally as Concha Piquer or Conchita Piquer, was a Spanish singer and actress, the most celebrated female voice in the history of the copla and one of the defining figures of twentieth-century Spanish popular music. The daughter of a humble Valencian family, she was discovered at the age of twelve by Antonio Moles, who took her to New York where she performed as a young prodigy - impressing audiences at the Palace Theatre and recording for the Victor label as early as 1923. During her years in the United States she befriended Charlie Chaplin and was photographed by Edward Steichen. On her return to Spain she built a career entirely centred on the copla - the narrative popular song of Andalusian origin - in partnership with the poets Rafael de León and Antonio Quintero and the composer Manuel Quiroga, whose joint output produced the defining songs of her repertoire: "Tatuaje", "Ojos verdes", "Échale guindas al pavo" and "La Lirio". Her interpretations were celebrated for their theatrical power, vocal depth, and emotional directness - qualities that made the copla, in her hands, a vehicle for the drama of love, abandonment, honour, and social marginality in a Spain profoundly marked by the Civil War and its aftermath. She retired from the stage in 1959, citing failing health, but her recordings continued to sell for decades. Federico García Lorca declared her "the most authentic voice of Spain." She was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit in Fine Arts by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en el Trabajo. She was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2002, posthumously.
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