2022 Easiest New Artist Latin Grammy Winner Dies at 97

Angela Alvarez, the Cuban singer-songwriter who made historical past in 2022 by means of profitable the Latin Grammy for highest new artist as a nonagenarian, died early Friday (Dec. 6), her grandson, composer and manufacturer Carlos José Alvarez, knowledgeable Billboard Español. She used to be 97.

She kicked the bucket peacefully in Baton Rouge, L. a.., surrounded by means of her circle of relatives and family members, added the musician, who produced her 15-track self-titled debut album, launched independently (by means of Nana Album LLC) in June 2021. A reason for demise used to be no longer equipped.

“I think so fortunate to have shared our grandmother with the sector. She used to be a present to me,” Carlos José mentioned. “What we completed in combination used to be peculiar. She is an instance of braveness, love and the significance of maintaining goals alive. She taught us how artwork can heal in instances of adversity.”

He added: “Having the ability to paintings along with her modified my existence. The present I assumed I used to be giving her, used to be in truth a present she gave to me and in flip the sector. She all the time mentioned, ‘I wish to go away this international understanding my track would continue to exist,’ and it is going to. Her existence used to be complete and her legacy shines on.”

Born on June 13, 1927, in Camagüey, Cuba, Angela Alvarez discovered to sing and play the piano early on, and later took at the guitar and began writing her personal songs. “I cherished track very a lot,” she instructed Billboard Español in November 2022 from Baton Rouge, the place the paintings of her husband, a mechanical engineer within the sugar business, took her many years in the past. “When I used to be a kid, I had two aunts that performed the piano and taught me the best way to sing. Each time there used to be a circle of relatives collecting, I used to be the artist; they made attire for me and I all the time favored to accomplish.”

She got here to believe track as a occupation after completing highschool, however neither her father — nor her husband, years later — discovered that more or less existence appropriate for her. So she moved on along with her existence. Song, however, used to be all the time there for her, because it helped her deal with the ups and downs of existence: from love and motherhood to a near-two-year separation from her kids after the Cuban Revolution triumph, when she used to be intended to trip to the U.S. with them however used to be no longer allowed to board the aircraft; to her relentless efforts to reunite her circle of relatives and the eventual lack of her cherished husband and, years later, of her handiest daughter — each to most cancers.

“I believe that track is the language of the soul,” Alvarez mentioned in the similar interview with Billboard, estimating on the time that she had written round 50 songs, together with “Romper el Yugo” (“Wreck the Chains”), “Añoranzas” (“Yearnings”), “Mi Gran Amor” (“My Nice Love”) and “Camino Sin Rumbo” (“I Surprise Aimlessly”), all integrated in that first and handiest album that ended in her implausible nomination for highest new artist and her eventual victory — in a tie with Silvana Estrada, who used to be 70 years more youthful.

Angela no longer handiest inspired the Latin Recording Academy and its balloting individuals. Throughout the album’s recording procedure, her grandson invited Andy García to hear her songs, and the Cuban-American actor and musician no longer handiest ended up govt generating and narrating a documentary about her titled Leave out Angela, but in addition invited her to look in his remake of Father of the Bride as Tía Pili and sing “Quiéreme Mucho” as a part of the soundtrack.

Angela Alvarez is survived by means of 3 kids (her handiest daughter died years in the past), 9 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.