Valeria Lynch

María Cristina Lancelotti (January 7, 1952 in Buenos Aires), better known by her stage name Valeria Lynch, is an Argentine singer and actress.

Valeria Lynch was born on January 7, 1952, in the neighborhood of Villa Urquiza, Buenos Aires, Argentina, the first child of the marriage of María Antonia Spano (Tony) and José Julio Lancellotti.

At age 14 while studying at the Commercial College Donato Álvarez in the neighborhood of La Paternal, she defined her vocation and began to study singing with Clara Calvo and drama with Dante Gilardoni.

In 1969, she debuted on the television show La Botica del Ángel with Eduardo Bergara Leumann, singing "Cuando un amigo se va".

Valeria Lynch formally began performing in the 1970s singing jingles and underground rock in English with a group called Expression.

The first major production Lynch took, was with producer Alejandro Romay in the adaptation of the musical Hair, held at the Teatro Argentino in 1971 where she put her voice to the song Aquarius-Let The Sunshine In.

From this Romay allegedly discovered her talent and suggested that she use a pseudonym.

She was also part of the TV TRIBU SRL, with which she recorded two songs for the soundtrack of the program, "I Am A Woman" and "Do Not Be Discouraged" as well as two different versions of the song" Tribu SRL "with the rest of the group, in 1975.

In 1976 she married Héctor Cavallero, who had discovered her around 1974 when she was singing in the underground clubs of Buenos Aires.

The story goes that Cavallero saw her sing and was so fascinated that he waited in the dressing room and offered to represent her and launch her career as a romantic singer.

In 1977 she released her first album, Valeria Lynch, and the cover was a drawing of her profile made by her friend Horacio Fontova.

Her version of the song Mujer Sola, written by the Italian Mia Martini (Domenica Berté), was the first cut of circulation.

Her debut as a pop balladeer was at the nightclub Michelangelo in the barrio of San Telmo.

The couple had two sons, Federico (born 1979) and Santiago Cavallero (born 1986).

In April 1979, she released the album Mujer and made her first promotional trip to Mexico and Central America.

During the 1980s, Valeria Lynch's success spread throughout Latin America.

Her visceral singing style, coupled with her strong vocals and the choice of a repertoire that reached for popular taste made the difference with other interpreters of pop ballads.

Her songs were not only a success in U.S. and Latin America but their music came to Spain, the Netherlands, Japan, Romania, Italy and the former Soviet Union.

In 1980, while performing the musical "Estan tocando nuestra cancion" with Victor Laplace and Cipe Lincovsky in Buenos Aires, she released her third studio album Capricornio.

The song Somos Locos del Amor was a favorite of the Argentine public.

In 1981, Valeria was in Mexico on a promotional tour and people from her record company suggested she audition for the rock opera Evita, directed by Harold Prince.

Mexican producers had chosen the Mexican Rocío Banquels, but Harold Prince was overwhelming in his statement that "in my music I want Valeria," so it was decided that the two were the protagonists.

Playing the role of Eva Perón opened the doors to the international level.

In repeated statements to the press Harold Prince said: "Valeria Lynch was the best that I got to direct as Evita".

In 1982 she released Quiereme, the hit single Mentira, song composed by Chilean Buddy Richard and international success of the Nicaraguan Hernaldo Zúñiga, catapulted her to stardom and the album was promoted throughout the continent.

This production won a Grammy Award nomination in the category "Best Latin Album" thanks to the orchestrations included, marking the first time the award was extended to Spanish-language recordings.

On this album, the song "Esto llamado amor" involved renowned American singer Jeffrey Osborne, former lead singer of music group "LTD".

In 1983 the album Un poco mas de mi, also known as Contigo soy capaz de todo in some countries, was released.

The song Amiga Mia, which had been recorded a year before by the Venezuelan singer Miriam Ochoa without commercial success, became a big hit as Valeria's rendition.

In 1984 she signed with RCA Ariola, and started her most successful career point, selling millions of her various recordings.

1985 was the year of the launch of the album Para Cantarle a la vida (To sing to life), with the singles Señor amante, Querido Mio, Que mal elegiste, tu eres el hombre Yo sin el and como una loba making this album one of the best sellers in the entire region.

Such was the success that in Buenos Aires, she drew nearly 100,000 spectators in 53 shows with their concert at the Teatro Astros.

Also in 1985 she was invited to participate in the International Festival of Popular Song at Yamaha Budokan hall in Tokyo, Japan.

Singing before more than 15,000 people she won the award for Best Performer of the Festival and the Grand Jury Prize, with the song Rompecabezas (Puzzle) that allowed her to overtake the competition La Toya Jackson.

Japanese jury chairman Genichi Kawakami said that he chose Lynch for her technique of interpretation, her movement on stage and her mastery of the microphone and said the jury's verdict coincided with the vote of the audience, Valeria getting 91% of votes.

That year she was also invited to perform at the Festival de Benidorm, made in Spain.

In 1986, she published Sin Fronteras with the singles Amame en Cámara Lenta, Fuera de mi Vida and Muñeca Rota, which went multi-platinum in different countries; the song Y tu no estas was covered by the legendary Cuban singer La Lupe, giving the lyrics of the song a religious twist and was adopted by the Protestant communities of Latin America, being popular to date.

That year her song Cada dia mas, was part of the official soundtrack of the film Heroes, the film dedicated to the World Cup 1986, held in Mexico and won Argentina.

She was also invited by Barry Manilow to record a duet Even Now that went by the name Hasta Hoy for Manilow's album Grandes Exitos en Español.

After eighteen years together, they separated in 1995.