Having recently bought the CD I Like It Like That, a compilation of music and remixes by artists from the famous superb Latin American record company Fania [I was in HMV, it was playing, I had to get a copy - a familar story...], I was enthralled to read an article in The Guardian today about one of the featured artists on the CD, the legendary La Lupe. As is my wont I was determined to find more about this fascinating Queen of Salsa (whose career began before Celia Cruz claimed the title).
Widely impersonated by drag queens across the Americas, La Lupe was cited by Susan Sontag as one of the 17 entries that defined "camp" in her brilliant Notes on Camp.
She was neither pure "Latin" nor pure "Salsa", having defined by her ultra-dramatic performances a niche all to herself. Ditched at an early stage by Tito Puente - who was quite probably, and quite rightly, scared of her - she became a cult figure not just amongst the Latin community but also the underground gay society of New York and beyond for her bizarre covers of popular songs including Yesterday, Dominique (originally by The Singing Nun), Twist & Shout, Unchained Melody, Fever and America (from West Side Story).
She unfortunately ended up turning to religion, and died in 1992.
Here are a couple of examples of the exuberance of the lovely lady herself...
A documentary of her life is doing the rounds, and I really need to get hold of a copy!
Read the article in The Guardian
La Lupe on Wikipedia
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