Leopoldo Pérez Ulloa

Leopoldo Ulloa, one of the most recorded and sung composers in Cuba.

The author of In that Balcony, It is My Plea of Love, Like a Ship Without Direction, I Will Die of Love and For Some Moorish Eyes, among other boleros, popularized by Celio González, Tejedor and Luis, Lino Borges with the Conjunto Saratoga and other performers, began composing when he was 20 years old and worked in a Havana business. His first works were guarachas such as Rise the Royal Palm and Mateo, until he ventured into the bolero.

EGREM recorded the album Leopoldo Ulloa: Song to My Own Life for him; and in 1998 the International Festival Boleros de Oro paid him tribute.

When he was barely eight years old, his family took him to Catalina de Güines –the famous town of Congo butifarra sausages–, and in that Havana locality he was considered an Adopted Son.

Leopoldo was always found wherever people talked about boleros and sang his songs or those of his colleagues. He would go to radio stations to fight so that his songs would not stop being broadcast.

"I began composing with a song called Saddened Love, sung by the duo of Aida with Walfrido Guevara and also by Clara and Mario.

"Later another song titled María the Cook was performed by Celia Cruz. But the song that placed me at the pinnacle is called In that Balcony, from 1958, sung by the phenomenon Celio González, who seemed to pour out his soul when he performed it:

"Do you remember
that gray afternoon,
on that balcony
where I met you.
I looked at you
and in a fevered kiss
that you and I gave each other
we sealed our love".

After Celio with the Sonora Matancera, it was recorded by José Tejedor, Gina León, Roberto Sánchez and Benitico Llanes.

"Tejedor was very interested in my compositions and placed me in his great moment: If I Could Have You –1959- Passion Without Restraint –1960- Like a Ship Without Direction –1961- and To Know of You –1962-. On the radio and the record players those big boleros that were in the hit parade never stopped being heard".

After Tejedor came that peasant from Batabanó who finished off the little flirts: Lino Borges, shy, but with a golden voice: Song to My Own Life and I Will Die of Love:

"Oh, my beloved,
what pain it is to live without seeing you,
I would not have to think of dying
to be happy".

I remember that record I Will Die of Love was one of the best sellers of those times, because no one stopped buying that single that won over the lovesick, especially from the countryside area of Havana. Frothy boleros, from bars and taverns, of the kind that taste of smoke and alcohol. But that refined and modest people also appreciated.

"A little later came the singer Frank Fernández with that little bolero I Was Wrong, from 1965, and almost at the same time For Some Moorish Eyes, recorded by Roberto Sánchez and the Bejucal native Néstor del Castillo. And do you remember Wilfredo Mendi with that Give Me a Memory and To My Beloved Mother. Later Manolo del Valle revived In that Balcony, which comes back into fashion".

We cannot forget the voice of Antonio Machín, who included several songs by Leopoldo Ulloa. The messenger of those songs was Chany Chelasy, flight attendant for Cubana de Aviación and composer, who disappeared in the sabotage against the Barbados plane. Chany confessed on a TV program, alongside Moraima, that he brought Ulloa's songs to Machín and he quickly recorded them on an LP.

Leopoldo said that for him "it was such an unforgettable surprise that I never imagined it, that was one of my great successes, Machín was the king of Cuban music in Europe".

WORKS
Boleros
Goodbye You Tell Me Now.
Saddened Love.
Song to My Beloved Mother.
Song to My Own Life.
Like a Ship Without Direction.
How Many People.
Marked Destiny.
In that Balcony.
It is Sad to Say Goodbye.
You Arrived, You Arrived.
I Was Wrong.
My Plea.
I Will Die of Love.
I Do Not Miss Your Love.
Passion Without Restraint.
Lost in the Crowd.
For Some Moorish Eyes.
What Do You Gain by Hurting Me.
Mister Bolero.
If I Could See You.
You Move Away From Me.
You Do Understand Me.
A Symbolic Flower.
Bolero-Mambo
You Will Return to My Side.
Guaguancó
Rich Guaguancó.
Guaracha
María the Cook.
Rise the Royal Palm.
Son
Tie Up the Pig and Let's Go.
Son of Mateo.

Performers of His Work
The main performers of his work have been, among others, the duo Guevara-Fulleda (Walfrido Guevara and Santiago Fulleda), Bienvenido Granda, Lino Borges, Antonio Machín, Celia Cruz, Celio González, José Tejedor, Moraima Secada, Gina León, Clara and Mario, Roberto Sánchez, and groups such as Sonora Matancera, Saratoga and Rumbavana. Different record companies have recorded Ulloa's work.

He was buried in Catalina de Güines, where he lived from eight years of age. He died as a result of injuries received in a traffic accident.