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Spanish spitfire Charo is instantly
recognizable with her big blonde hair, her tight and flamboyant clothes that leave
little of her voluptuous figure to the imagination, and most of all, her jubilant,
jiggling "coochie, coochie" (an interjection that Charo,
with a laugh, admits has no real meaning) spoken with a thick Castilian accent.
Though her image is that of the consummate bimbo, there is much more to Charo
than meets the eye. She is a gifted comedienne who prides herself
on putting on shows suitable for families and is also a very talented Spanish
guitarist and singer. Although she professionally mangles the English language
on-stage, she can read and write it fluently; Charo
is also fluent in Japanese, French, and Spanish. As a young girl, she studied
guitar under Andres Segovia, one of the fathers of modern classical guitar music.
She came to the U.S. in the '70s and married the much older Spanish bandleader
Xavier Cugat. A regular on television talk shows of the era, she appeared frequently
in nightclubs and occasionally as a television actress in shows such as Fantasy
Island. She has gained most of her renown on the nightclub circuit touring such
hot spots as Las Vegas and Atlantic City, but after the birth of her son in the
early '80s, she and her new husband moved to Hawaii. Though she has focused more
on raising her child over the last decade, Charo
continues to perform regularly at the Honolulu resort the Polynesian Palace. She
also tours the mainland occasionally. In 1994, she released her first Latino album,
Guitar Passion, an album on which she played and sang flamenco-style pop songs
on her guitar. Though it didn't receive much radio airplay, it stayed on the Billboard
album charts for several months. Sandra Brennan, All Music Guide
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