Rosa Morena: Flamenco pop singer who triumphed in the disco era

One of Spain’s most popular performers in the 1970s, she blended traditional Andalusian sounds with a modern, mainstream approach

Morena in 1973, at the height of her fame in her native country (RosaMorenaTV)

Once dubbed the Spanish Marilyn Monroe, Rosa Morena, who has died aged 78, achieved international fame in the disco era of the 1970s by pioneering flamenco pop. One of Spain’s most popular performers, she borrowed from the traditional southern sounds, the Andalusian copla, and gave them a new life in the mainstream pop.

Morena performed in galas and countless TV specials, and is remembered for her unique way of meandering into the crowds, singing up close to her audience.

She was born Manuela Otilia Pulgarín in Badajoz, southwest Spain, in 1941. She was the daughter of a miner who struggled to feed a family of 10 in the post-civil war era of depleted soils and numerous social ills.

She began singing at the age of five, imitating songs by Antonio Molina, a popular Flamenco dancer and singer, and slowly gained recognition for her appearances as the smiley, prodigious child star in the local radio station, Radio Extremadura.

Continuing her Andalusian copla – poetic form of four verses found in many Spanish popular songs as well as in Spanish language literature music covers – Morena debuted in the radio in Madrid when she was 12, where she met her idols, singers and actors such as “The Pharaon” Lola Flores, Concha Piquer y Antonita Moreno.

Her singing teacher, the composer Rafael Millan, suggested she change her name to Rosa Morena, or the Rosy Brunette, despite her overflowing blond hair.

In Madrid she was spotted by international producers, which took her on a Latin American world tour that began in Buenos Aires in Argentina when she was 15. She was soon nicknamed the “Spanish bombshell” for her popular performances in Argentinian TV shows.

Continuing her tour in France, Japan and the UK, Morena later made her US debut in 1963 in Liborio, a Latin cabaret in New York, where she sang with the likes of Candido, Celia Cruz and Olga Guillot.

She appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and shortly after was named “best artist in the city of skyscrapers” by New York critics, the first Spanish-speaking singer to win this accolade. During her time in the city, she found herself performing her hit song “Badajoz la tierra mía” in the same evenings where Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin would perform.

During this time of hectic touring and musical engagements, in 1965 she starred in her first movie, Flor Salvaje, directed by the Spanish screenwriter and film director Javier Seto, and in El Secreto de las Esmeraldas in 1966, directed by Sebastian Almeida, where she portrayed a Spanish heiress laying claim to her fortune in Colombia. Her hit single “Echale guindas al pavo” (Icing on the turkey) became one of Spain’s most famous songs of the 1970s.

In 1987 her career was interrupted when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She would lose one of her lungs – and with it, some of the power in her voice. She retreated from public life and went to live in Lanzarote.

In 1998 she released a new album, Tela de Arana, followed by another, Soy fuego in 2012, and during this period returned to TV work. In her later years she reverted to her real name, Otilia Pulgarín, and moved back to her native Badajoz.

Rosa Morena, singer, born 11 July 1941, died 4 December 2019