Gina León

Cuban singer who made her professional debut at the Monte Casino cabaret.

Gina León loved to sing from a young age. Although her parents were not artists, her inclination seems to come from her grandmother Águeda, who would take every opportunity to turn on the radio to listen to danzones and romantic songs, and on many occasions she had the company of her little granddaughter.

Neighbors, friends, and family members soon discovered the talents of that young woman who, at 15 years old, made the evenings pleasant by singing a melody or two.

Pressed by this situation, her mother decided one day to take her to a music school to have her tested, and she passed with flying colors (she has a mezzo-soprano voice, they said), but much to the teacher's disappointment, Gina refused to enroll. She would later explain this unexpected attitude convincingly: she had no interest whatsoever in either lyrical or operatic music.

Somewhat on a whim and partly to prove herself, she participated in an amateur singing contest on the Radio Popular station, where she came away doubly victorious. First, by winning the first prize for her interpretation of "La novia de todos," and second, because a seasoned musician, Candito Ruíz, realized that night a star was being born.

Ruíz was a pianist and composer and author of several popular melodies. So he took her under his wing, created a repertoire for her, and soon she made her professional debut on the stage of the Monte Casino cabaret.

Her first trip abroad was to Panama, where she performed at the Bahía cabaret in 1957. In 1987 she returned to that country to perform at the Hotel Continental in a show alongside Bobby Carcassés. On this latter occasion, the newspaper La Estrella described her as an extraordinary singer with a tremendously powerful voice.

Another of her trips abroad was in 1962 when she participated in the International Song Festival of Sopot, Poland, and later performed at the Friedrichstad Palace in Berlin as well as in several cities of the former German Democratic Republic.

Her repertoire of songs is broad and among them we can mention Canta lo sentimental, by Fuentes and Montiel, Eclipse, by Margarita Lecuona, Como aquel día, by Ricardo Rodríguez, Estar enamorado, by Adolfo Guzmán, Perdóname, by Felo Bergaza, Debí llorar, by Piloto and Vera, and her emblematic Que te cuesta, by Ricardo García Perdomo, among others.

Composer Marta Valdés has said of Gina: "She has some vocal characteristics that are quite unusual in our current artistic circles. First of all, because of her possibilities in the upper register—which is not common among our female singers—and secondly, because she possesses a creamy, pleasant timbre and a way of using it in moments of melodic climax, without a single note of harshness."

Musicologist Rosa Marquetti has declared: "she had an extraordinary voice and elegance. In times of so many excellent singers, Gina León stood out like few others. The memory of her 'Aléjate' and so many other boleros has accompanied us all these years, even though she has not been remembered as she should have been."

Some of her interpretations

Canta lo sentimental, by Fuentes and Montiel
Eclipse, by Margarita Lecuona
Como aquel día, by Ricardo Rodríguez
Estar enamorado, by Adolfo Guzmán
Perdóname, by Felo Bergaza
Debí llorar, by Piloto and Vera
Qué te cuesta, by Ricardo García Perdomo