La La La Re-re-re-Revisited

Yes....I am obsessed with La, La, La.....Maybe my next secret admirer present will be a LaLaLa single (if one exists). I have a lot of respect for a woman who can win a contest singing one word over and over! I have learned a bit more about Massiel....I could learn more if I knew Spanish....but "asi es la vida."

Massiel was born María de los Ángeles Santamaría on August 2, 1947 in Madrid. Her tailor-turned-talent agent father exposed his young daughter to the world of show business, regularly arranging for Massiel to perform at celebrity-filled cocktail parties. Although Massiel had initially planned to pursue a career in dance, she was to become a musical phenomenon in Spain- an icon always remembered for bringing Spain its first victory at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1968. Massiel introduced a more mature, serious side to Spanish pop that earned her the title of "The First Rebel Singer of Madrid." The self-penned "Dí Que No" was her first hit in a string of many for the Novola label, who represented her until 1971. She won Eurovision in 1968 with "La La La,"a song written by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa that has become one of the most popular Spanish songs of all time. In the summer of 1968 she suffered a throat ailment, but came out of it with an added strength in her lower register. Massiel's hits include "Rosas En El Mar" and "¡Aleluya! No. 1," both released in 1967 and written by prolific songwriter Luís Eduardo Aute. At the height of her success, singer Tom Jones dubbed Massiel " the number one singer of the number two language."She continued to record music well into the early nineties and dabbled in stage acting and film. In the late sixties, the Spanish press used the now overused term "diva" to describe Massiel's personal style and musical talent. To which Massiel responded- "I believe a person only starts to feel like a diva when people say that she is one."