Chayito Valdez

Biography

María del Rosario Valdez Campos (28 May 1945 – 19 June 2016), known professionally as Chayito Valdez, was a Mexican singer and actress from Sinaloa. She was associated with and contributed to the folk music of Mexico.

Biography

Valdez was born in Orba, Guasave Municipality, Sinaloa. She started her music career at an early age participating in amateur competitions with songs such as "La Cigarra", "Historia de un amor", "La Bikina", and "Leña de Pirul". Her godmother was Amalia Mendoza, a successful singer known as "La Tariácuri", and in the early 1970s, she recorded four songs the Sinaloan city of Los Mochis: "Besos y Copas", "Una Noche me Embriagué", "Una Sombra", and "Amor que Muere", which earned her a reputation as a Mexican folk singer. She won the fifth Festival de la Canción Ranchera with the song "No me pregunten por él".
Valdez moved to Los Angeles, California in 1982 and became a US citizen. On September 17, 1985, she suffered an automobile accident that left her in a wheelchair, but after a long recovery began making public appearances again. In June 2003 she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and fell into a coma for 50 days. Her last show was in Nogales, Sonora. She spent her last days in a persistent vegetative state in a hospital in Coronado, California, where she died on 19 June 2016.

Music

During her 30-year career, Valdez contributed over 300 hits and 1500 recorded songs to the Mexican musical heritage. Her musical legacy includes the following:

Corridos de Caballos (traditional Mexican ballads)

"El moro de Cumpas"
"Caballo prieto afamado"
"Caballo prieto azabache"
"El alazán y el rosillo"
"El cantador"
"Caballo Tequila"
"Caballo alazán lucero"
"Los dos alazanes"

Traditional Songs

"San Juan del Río"
"Mi soldadita"
"La gallera"
"Lindo Michoacán"
"El sinaloense"
"Sonora querida"
"Acuarela potosina"
"Pelea de gallos"

Romantic boleros

"Compréndeme"
"Mía nomás"
"Sentencia"
"Besos callejeros"
"No vuelvas"
"Ojazos negros"

Television

Valdez appeared in Mexican television programs such as:

Siempre en domingo
Noches tapatías
El estudio de Lola
Hoy mismo
Para gente grande
Aún hay más
Nuestra gente

Film

Hijos de tigre (1980)
El charro del misterio (1980)
Pasión por el peligro (1979)
La hija del contrabando (1977)
Tierra de valientes (1987)
Caballo prieto afamado (1977)
En el camino andamos
Los 4 jinetes del Apocalipsis
Pistoleros famosos II
El ratero de la vecindad
Pánico en la Frontera
Zacazonapan (1976)
De la gloria al infierno
Hasta el último trago... corazón (documentary 2005)