Rita Montaner

Rita Montaner
Rita Montaner
Background information
Also known asRita de Cuba
Born
Rita Aurelia Fulcida Montaner y Facenda

(1900-08-20)20 August 1900
Died17 April 1958(1958-04-17) (aged 57)
Havana, Cuba
GenresRhumba, zarzuela
OccupationsMusician, actress
InstrumentsVocals, piano
Years active1920–1958
LabelPuchito
Spouses
  • Alberto Fernández Díaz
    (m. 1912; death 1932)
  • Ernesto Estévez Navarro
    (m. 1933; div. 1938)
  • Javier Calderón Poveda
    (m. 1939; div. 1958)
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Rita Aurelia Fulcida Montaner y Facenda (20 August 1900 – 17 April 1958), known as Rita Montaner, was a Cuban singer, pianist and actress. In Cuban parlance, she was a vedette (a star), and was well known in Mexico City, Paris, Miami and New York, where she performed, filmed and recorded on numerous occasions. She was one of Cuba's most popular artists between the late 1920s and 1950s, renowned as Rita de Cuba. Though classically trained as a soprano for zarzuelas, her mark was made as a singer of Afro-Cuban salon songs including "The Peanut Vendor" and "Siboney".

Throughout her career, Montaner kept a close personal and professional relationship with two famous musicians from her hometown of Guanabacoa: pianist-singer Bola de Nieve and composer Ernesto Lecuona.