Alberto Castillo
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Alberto Castillo (December 7 1914 – July 23 2002) was a prominent Argentine tango singer and actor. He was born Alberto Salvador De Lucca in the Buenos Aires barrio of Mataderos as the son of Italian immigrants Salvador De Lucca and Lucia Di Paola, made his professional debut in the 1930s and began a successful recording career in 1941. Soon afterwards he had a hit with his interpretation of the Alfredo Pelala tune “Recuerdo”.
With his keen sense of rhythm and his tendency to go hoarse, Castillo made a name for himself as the main interpreter of the black-oriented genres of candombe and milonga.
One of his most successful recordings was "Cien Barrios Porteńos" (The hundred barrios of Buenos Aires), to the point that presenters would announce him as "the singer of the 100 barrios".
Beginning in 1946, Castillo appeared in a number of Argentine films.
Castillo was also a physician by training. This fact famously convinced his fiancee's parents to let her marry Alberto (being "just a tango singer" would not have been enough), and was dramaticised in the Argentine movie "Luna de Avellaneda", when Castillo volunteers to deliver a baby at a carnival fair right after finishing his set.
Among his later releases was a cover of his candombe hit “Siga el Baile”, recorded with Argentine band Los Auténticos Decadentes. Castillo is buried in the La Chacarita Cemetery in Buenos Aires.
