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Vikki Carr
Vikki Carr in 1974
Background information
Birth name	Florencia Vicenta de Casillas-Martínez Cardona
Born	(1940-07-19) July 19, 1940 (age 84) El Paso, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Latin pop pop traditional pop mariachi
Occupation	Singer
Instruments	Vocals Guitar
Years active	1962–present
Labels	Liberty Columbia UMG
Website	Official website

Florencia Vicenta de Casillas-Martínez Cardona (born July 19, 1940), known by her stage name Vikki Carr, is an American vocalist. She has a singing career that spans more than five decades.

Born in El Paso, Texas, to Mexican parents, she has performed in a variety of musical genres, including pop, jazz and country, while her greatest success has come from singing in Spanish. She established the Vikki Carr Scholarship Foundation in 1971. Vikki Carr has won three Grammys and was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 at the 9th Annual Latin Grammy Awards.

Career

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Cardona was born in El Paso, Texas, on July 19, 1940. In 1958, she graduated from Rosemead High School in Rosemead, California, in a class that included famed fashion designer Bob Mackie. Under the stage name "Vikki Carr" she signed with Liberty Records in 1962. Her first single to achieve success was "He's a Rebel", which in 1962 reached No. 3 in Australia and No. 115 in the United States. Producer Phil Spector heard Carr cutting the song in the studio and immediately produced his own cover version with the Blossoms (though it was presented as a recording by The Crystals) which reached No. 1 in the United States. In 1966, Carr toured South Vietnam with actor/comedian Danny Kaye to entertain American troops. The following year, her album It Must Be Him was nominated for three Grammy Awards. The title track reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in 1967, sold more than 1 million copies and received a gold disc.

Carr followed with two US Top 40 hits: 1968's "The Lesson" and 1969's "With Pen in Hand". Around this time, Dean Martin called her "the best girl singer in the business". In total, Carr had 10 singles and 13 albums that made the US pop charts.

In 1968, Carr taped six specials for London Weekend TV. She made frequent appearances on various television programs, such as ABC's The Bing Crosby Show in the 1964–1965 season. She appeared on The Carol Burnett Show in 1969. In 1970, she was named "Woman of the Year" by the Los Angeles Times. A favorite of Johnny Carson's, she appeared more than 30 times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, even hosting on occasion.

She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1981. Carr also achieved the rare feat of singing for five presidents during her career: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton. The bicultural nature of her career has included recording with Vicente Fernandez and Pepe Aguilar while the likes of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin were friends.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Carr had enormous success in the Latin music world, winning Grammy Awards for Best Mexican-American Performance in 1986 for her album Simplemente Mujer, Best Latin Pop Album in 1992 for Cosas del Amor and Best Mexican-American Performance in 1995 for Recuerdo a Javier Solís. She also received Grammy nominations for the discs Brindo a La Vida, Al Bolero, A Ti (1993) and Emociones (1996). Her numerous Spanish-language hit singles include "Total", "Discúlpame", "Déjame", "Hay Otro en Tu Lugar", "Esos Hombres", "Mala Suerte" and "Cosas del Amor". "Cosas del Amor" spent more than two months at No. 1 on the US Latin charts in 1991, her biggest Spanish-language US hit. Her Spanish-language albums have been certified gold and platinum in Mexico, Chile, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador. She also voiced Georgette in the Latin American dub of Disney's Oliver & Company.

In 1999, Carr taped a PBS TV special, Vikki Carr: Memories, Memorias, in which she performed popular bilingual tunes from the 1940s and 1950s. Her guests were Arturo Sandoval and Jack Jones. In 2001, she released a bilingual holiday album, The Vikki Carr Christmas Album.

Carr appeared to great acclaim in a 2002 Los Angeles production of the Stephen Sondheim musical Follies, which also featured Hal Linden, Patty Duke and Harry Groener. In 2006, Carr made a cameo appearance in a straight-to-video thriller called Puerto Vallarta Squeeze. Carr hosted a PBS TV special in 2008, Fiesta Mexicana, which celebrated the music and dance of Mexico. Later that year she was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Recording Academy. Carr marked the occasion with an appearance on the Latin Grammy telecast, in which she performed "Cosas del Amor" with Olga Tañón and Jenni Rivera.

In 2014, Carr was invited by producer Gerry Gallagher to record with Latin rock legends El Chicano, Alphonse Mouzon, Brian Auger, Alex Ligertwood, Salvador Santana, Ray Parker Jr., Lenny Castro, Siedah Garrett, Walfredo Reyes Jr., Pete Escovedo, Peter Michael Escovedo, Jessy J, Marcos J. Reyes and David Paich, and is featured on a remake of the Latin classic "Sabor A Mi" from a 2019 Gallagher studio album. In August, she headlined a benefit in El Paso for the Walmart shooting victims of the 2019 El Paso shooting.

Personal life

Carr has been married three times, first to producer and entertainment attorney Dann Moss, then paint company executive Michael Nilsson. She was married to San Antonio, Texas, physician Pedro De Leon from 1993 until his death in 2019.

Charitable work

Carr devotes time to charities including the United Way, the American Lung Association, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. For 22 years, she hosted benefit concerts to support Holy Cross of San Antonio Middle and High School in San Antonio, Texas. In 1971, she established the Vikki Carr Scholarship Foundation dedicated to offering college scholarships to Hispanic students in California and Texas. The foundation, since 2018 partnered with the San Antonio Area Foundation, has awarded more than 280 scholarships totaling more than $250,000.

Discography

Albums

Singles

1960s and 1970s

• Years represent year of release, not necessarily the chart peak year.

1980s to the present

Cultural references

• In the Family Guy episode "Total Recall", Peter remarks, "So what? She can name a kind of car. Big whoop, I can do that, too. Vikki. Vikki Carr".
• At a November 12, 1974 state dinner, Don Penny was dancing with Betty Ford while President Gerald Ford was dancing with Vikki Carr. Carr asked the president "What's your favorite Mexican dish?" to which he replied, "You are." Betty Ford was not amused.
• In the 1987 film Moonstruck, Cosmo Castorini is a fan of the singer, often listening to her record "It Must Be Him"; his wife Rose remarks to their daughter Loretta: "Now he's going to play that damn Vikki Carr record, and when he comes to bed he won't touch me."
• In The Nanny season 2 episode "Strange Bedfellows", several nannies celebrate the retirement of Mona, played by Tyne Daly. Bemoaning how little she received after devoting her life to raising the children of other people, Mona says "you give somebody's kids the best years of your life and what do you get? A pat on the back and a couple of stinking Vikki Carr CDs."
• During the first episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, the credits include John Cleese saying "The final score, Pigs 9, British Bipeds 4. The Pigs go on to face Vikki Carr in the finals."

References

1. Telgen, Diane; Kamp, Jim (1993). The Notable Hispanic American Women. VNR AG. ISBN 9780810375789. Archived from the original on October 1, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
2. "History". Gaston Gazette. Archived from the original on October 1, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
3. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 95. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
4. ^ Cordova, Randy (October 12, 2019). "How Vikki Carr's life changed after her husband's dementia diagnosis". AZ Central. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
5. Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 217. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
6. ^ "Vikki Carr". GRAMMY.com. November 19, 2019. Archived from the original on August 13, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
7. Baxter, Kevin (March 1, 1999). "Bilingual Concert by Vikki Carr Leads KCET Overture to Latinos". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 12, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
8. Hirschhorn, Joel (June 17, 2002). "Follies". Variety. Archived from the original on March 3, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
9. "Belinda, Vikki Carr, Flex y Rosario to Perform on the 9th Annual Latin Grammy" (in Spanish). Latin GRAMMYs. Archived from the original on October 2, 2021. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
10. "Marriages". Billboard. September 1, 1979. p. 72. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
11. "Obituary for Pedro A. De Leon, MD". Porter Loring Mortuaries. December 2019. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
12. Shaw, Gina (October 6, 2020). "Singer Vikki Carr Shares Lessons in Caregiving and Love". Brain & Life. Archived from the original on May 12, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
13. "Vikki Carr Scholarship Foundation - Donate on ALMA". ALMA. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
14. "San Antonio Area Foundation > About > News > Vikki Carr Scholarship". saafdn.org. April 4, 2018. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
15. "Vikki Carr | Foundation". Archived from the original on October 10, 2022. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
16. "Family Guy: Season 11, Episode 18 script | Subs like Script". Sub Like Script. Archived from the original on October 1, 2021. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
17. "Don Penny - Gerald R. Ford Foundation". Geraldrfordfoundation.org. May 28, 2013. Archived from the original on February 25, 2019. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
18. "Quotes from "Moonstruck"". IMDb.com. Archived from the original on April 15, 2017. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
19. "YouTube". YouTube. Archived from the original on October 2, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
20. "Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974)". IMDb.com. Archived from the original on May 14, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2018.

External links

• Official website
• Vikki Carr Exclusive Booking Agents ~ Paradise Artists
• Vikki Carr at IMDb
• Vikki Carr at Billboard.com
• "In the Spotlight with Vikki Carr" hosted by Ron Roberts. A one-hour monthly internet radio program streaming worldwide, devoted to the music of Vikki Carr: 3:00 – 4:00pm NYT, with rebroadcasts as per the program schedule.

• 1940 births
• Living people
• Vikki Carr albums
• American women pop singers
• Mexican singers
• Traditional pop music singers
• Grammy Award winners
• Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
• American performers of Latin music
• American cabaret singers
• American torch singers
• Ranchera singers
• Spanish-language singers of the United States
• American musicians of Mexican descent
• Musicians from El Paso, Texas
• Columbia Records artists
• Liberty Records artists
• 20th-century American singers
• 21st-century American singers
• 20th-century American women singers
• 21st-century American women singers
• Hispanic and Latino American musicians
• Hispanic and Latino American women singers
• Women in Latin music