Biography and work of Rafael Sanchez - Spanish singer
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In 2022. Rafael Sanchez was 79 years old. His musical career began in 1959, the singer was not even 18 years old at that time. But even then he had all the prerequisites to become popular. And now Rafael is considered one of the most famous Spanish singers on the world stage.
He is renowned for his wide vocal range and distinctive style of singing. When he was nine years old, he won a competition and became the best voice in the world. True, the competition was among children, but the title, nevertheless, is honourable. And how did the singer become famous and what does he do now? About all this in our article.
How Rafael Sanchez became popular
According to the musician's father, when Rafael was born, he screamed "as if he had seven pairs of lungs". Perhaps his parents already knew that the boy would become a great singer. But there was no money for serious musical training in the Sanchez family - his father was a simple labourer, and there were three other children besides Rafael.
The boy was put into the choir at the parish school so that he could sing. He studied there from the age of four, and for free, because of his magnificent voice. Even the experienced adult soloists of the choir were amazed by the vocal of little Raphael. The boy also brought the church a lot of money by attracting people to his performances. As a rule, he soloed in them. One day they wanted to kick him out of school, but they brought him back immediately because people were upset when they learnt that Rafael was no longer in the choir.
At the age of nine, Rafael won an international competition in Salzburg, where he won the prize for the best children's voice. This opened up many opportunities for him in music. In addition, his parents began to support his musical endeavours. Before winning the competitions, they did not believe that the boy had a chance to become famous. They thought that music would be a good hobby and nothing more. At the age of sixteen, the boy finally convinced his parents otherwise. He was already performing in cabarets, singing in halls, giving concerts and even starred in a film - Gemini! Serious success came to Sanchez in 1962. Then Rafael took part in the fourth Spanish song contest and with the song "Llevan" won the prize of the Best Performer. After that he became a very honoured musician.
Rafael Sanchez's best songs.
After Rafael became a popular artiste in Spain, he was sent to represent the country at Eurovision. In 1966. he came in 7th place. A year later, he was sent out again and came in 6th place. Which is also very honourable. In the '60s, Rafael was on the rise - and he had to literally beat that popularity out. He recorded in a decade more than 20 albums! Most of the albums contained between 4 and 6 songs. And all of them were of very, very high quality.
In 1968, a film was released with Rafael, in which he was not only a good actor, but also a first-class vocalist. This film became popular in the USSR as well:
A year earlier, one of Rafael's most popular songs, "Mi gran noche"It was written in a pop style by the composer Salvatore Adamo. The song was released with the album "Digan lo que digan", which was very successful. And now the YouTube clip of the song has about 40 million views:
But this is not Raphael's first success - even earlier, in 1966, he released another megapopular composition - " ".Yo soy aquel". It is not as popular as Mi gran noche, but still loved by millions of listeners around the world. By the way, it was with this song that Sanchez performed at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1966 and came 7th:
Although it sounds like Rafael would win with this song. I even wonder what's in the other places. But that's a topic for a completely different article.
What is Rafael Sanchez doing now
The Spanish nightingale will soon be 80 years old, but he is still on stage - actively touring and performing. He even used to star in films, the last of the popular films with him was released in 2015. It is the film "My big night.". And in December 2020 a documentary film about Rafael's ties with the USSR and Russia was released - RAPHAEL. Desde Rusia con amor ("Rafael. From Russia with Love").
The singer is still very much loved in Russia - there is even a website in Russian dedicated to Raphael and his work - called "My Raphael". It is regularly updated and contains a lot of information for the singer's fans.
