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Often regarded as one of the early pioneers of Argentine rock, singer Billy Cafaro (born Luis María Cafaro on November 1, 1936) was the first local artist to spark a rock & roll craze amongst the teenagers in Buenos Aires. Hailing from the neighborhood of Palermo, he demonstrated great aptitude for music from a very young age and took violin lessons after finishing primary school. In 1958, he emerged into the incipient Buenos Aires rock scene with “Pity Pity,” a Paul Anka cover that became a smash hit and sold a total of 300,000 copies. By the time further singles “Personalidad” and “Marcianita” came out, the lines to see Billy Cafaro perform on the radio were so massive he had to take a helicopter to get to his destination. However, success proved to be short-lived—after the single “Kriminal Tango” (1959) ignited a feud with the tango scene, he emigrated to Spain where he tried his luck to no avail. During those years, he issued the LPs OK Billy and Bésame Pepita, both released in 1960. Billy Cafaro returned to Argentina in 1963 and featured in the music TV show El Club del Clan but this didn’t help his already declining career. From there on, his appearances were sporadic and didn’t make much of a splash in the local music scene. In the following years, he reinvented himself as a crooner, singing bolero and tango on 1998's Dos Almas and 2006’s Con un Tango en el Bolsillo. He passed away on September 4, 2021.
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