Armando Manzanero

One of the most celebrated and prolific bolero artists in Latin music, Mexican composer Armando Manzanero was born on December 7, 1935, in Ticul, Yucatán. His father, singer-songwriter Santiago Manzanero, founded the Orquesta Típica Yucaltepén, and his mother Juanita Canché Baqueiro played jarana jarocha, a traditional Mexican instrument. He began his musical education when he was just 8 years old at the local School of Fine Arts and then continued his studies in Mexico City. In 1950, he wrote his first song "Nunca en el Mundo," which has since been recorded in several different languages. Over the course of the next few years, Armando Manzanero began a career as a professional pianist, performing alongside Pedro Vargas, Lucho Gatica, and Raphael. Urged by an executive of RCA Victor, he recorded his first album Mi Primera Grabación in 1959. More success followed in 1965 when his song "Cuando Estoy Contigo" won the Festival de la Canción in Miami. During this time, Armando Manzanero gained a great deal of international prestige thanks to songs like "Contigo Aprendí," included in his 1967 LP A Mi Amor Con Amor. In 1970, the romantic bolero "Somos Novios" earned a Grammy nomination after being recorded in English by Perry Como under the name "It's Impossible." Throughout the 1990s, he experienced a surge in popularity after producing Luis Miguel's blockbuster album Romances (1991), which featured covers of the tracks "Te Extraño" and "No Sé Tú." Subsequently, Armando Manzanero reaped the fruits of his hard labor during the 2000s and 2010s, receiving a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014 and the Billboard Latin Music Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. The legendary composer passed away in Mexico City on December 28, 2020, due to COVID-19 complications.

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