Olga Navarro, Cuba's "Vedette of Verse" and writer of Elena Burke classics, dies at 97

October 27, 2026

Cuban artist Olga Navarro Thauller, known as "La Vedette del Verso" (the Vedette of Verse), died in Havana on Monday, October 26, 2026, at 97. Her death was announced by Havana's Adolfo Guzmán music agency, according to Granma, and was also reported by Diario de Cuba and OnCuba. Friends and colleagues paid tribute online, many recalling how she supported young artists.

Born in Havana on December 3, 1928, Navarro was a poet, reciter, actress, storyteller and songwriter. She began by reciting verse and telling stories, modeled in the early years of Cuban television, and by the late 1950s was performing her own poems in cabarets with pianist Frank Domínguez. She published "Versos" in 1957 and "A ti" in 1958, and Show magazine named her Reciter of the Year in 1960 and 1961.

Her best-known songs are "Te dije quédate" and "Aquí de pie," written with music by her friend Meme Solís and made famous by Elena Burke. Vicentico Valdés, Omara Portuondo, Rosita Fornés, Alina Sánchez and Ela Calvo also recorded her work. She was the first woman to direct nightclub shows in Cuba, at the Las Vegas cabaret, where she hosted a regular gathering in her later years.

A founder of Cuban Television and of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), she received UNEAC's Nicolás Guillén diploma in 2008 for half a century of artistic work, along with the National Culture Distinction.