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Latin Grammys to Honor Olga Guillot |
Contributed By: Josh DaNewYork
Created On: Wednesday, 07 November 2007
Hits: 90
 Olga Guillot
"This award is a tribute to a 63-year artistic career," Guillot, 84, told The Associated Press in a recent interview at her home in Mexico City. "For an organization to recognize that is a great reason to feel beautiful and happy."
She is among the artists to receive the award, which was to be presented Wednesday, a day before the eighth annual Latin Grammy Awards show in Las Vegas.
Guillot said she turned down repeated offers to record in English because "I think and feel in Spanish. If I had accepted, my career would have been sunk in two years because it's simply not the same thing."
The Cuban singer, known for hits such as "La gloria eres tu," "Mienteme" and "Tu me acostumbraste," said a second-place finish along with her sister in a singing contest at age 13 was an experience that turned applause into something of a "drug" for her.
"They gave us $10 and a bag of candy," she laughed. "I was that precocious girl on Sundays, when they say, `Let the girl sing,' and there I was. ... So I already had it in my blood. I think already as a little girl I dreamed that there would be more audiences."
Guillot said Edith Piaf gave her some valuable advice: Don't wear flashy jewelry.
"The only jewel that should be on the stage is you; that was the great lesson she gave me," Guillot said.
She also described becoming the first Latin artist to perform at New York's Carnegie Hall, in 1964.
"Tony Bennett was there, a big group of artists," Guillot recalled. "When the ushers saw all that they said, `Who is she?"'
Reflecting on her more than six-decade career, Guillot said her 14 records that went gold and 10 that went platinum came in an age when "you really had to earn it."
Guillot said she has had only one disappointment in her career.
"It's a shame that in your own country, where you were born ... there is a whole generation that doesn't know us," she said. "They don't know anything about those of us who have represented Cuba in exile, in the world."
On the Net:
The Latin Recording Academy:
http://www.grammy.com/Latin/
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