12/28/2020 11:22 AM
Clarín.com
Shows
Music
Updated 12/28/2020 11:28 AM
This Monday, the 28th, the news of the death of Armando Manzanero at the age of 85, after suffering from coronavirus, was known.
As in the stories told by the boleros that one composed and the other performed, the artist and Luis Miguel went from love to hate.
In 1991, the album
Romance
united them in success.
A
Luis Miguel finished consecrating it as an
international star and he added Pubic Manzanero new generations.
To this repercussion was added the money they both earned for the
7 million records sold
worldwide and the prizes accumulated for the album produced by the famous bolero composer.
At the beginning of the '90s, at a crossroads in his career,
Luis Miguel
made a decision, which, perhaps, was one of the most successful of his professional life.
He made a change of course and proposed to one of the best composers in Mexico to produce his new album.
The record company wanted a hit, yes or yes.
And going the usual way was not the most appropriate at the time.
Deciding to
record a bolero album was a risk
but the Sun King took a risk.
When his career seemed to have reached a plateau, Luis Miguel took a chance with Manzanero's repertoire and his career soared again to the top.
/ Photo Claudia Daut - Reuters
The invitation that Manzanero received surprised him, but the author of classics such as
We Are Boyfriends
,
La mediauelta, I don't know about you, But I miss you
, among many others, took a challenge and accepted.
The result could not be better.
The traditional boleros took a new dimension
in the voice of Luis Miguel and the success was resounding.
Luismi became the first Latin American to receive a gold record in the United States for a record in Spanish.
The idea that the classic never goes out of style proved, in that case, to be totally true.
And so
generations of grandmothers, daughters, and granddaughters
shared the same fascination for the romantic love songs that the singer sang.
The
Romance
album
has twelve songs, composed between 1944 and 1996, among them several stainless boleros.
The album received
a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Pop Album
and crossed audiences around the world, across generations.
Somehow, the duo of Luismi and Manzanero had managed to generate a furor for the genre, a relaunch in the Latin world and a late discovery in other markets.
But what happened that, after such repercussions, the relationship between Mexican musicians became tense to the point of not speaking again?
Three years after the launch of
Romance
, and taking advantage of the event, came the idea of putting together a new album,
Segundo Romance
, in the same vein.
And then, in 1997,
Romances
arrived
, always with boleros and with Manzanero's production and arrangements.
The artistic partnership bore fruit and remained on good terms, until 2001, when the composer returned to collaborate on the album
Mis Romances
.
By then there were already frictions between the two.
Something that came to light when Manzanero, without turning, declared in a Mexican television program:
"It is easier to pass an elephant through the buttonhole of a needle than to cause Luis Miguel to do something for others
.
"
Apparently,
the composer was bothered by some attitudes of the singer
, already established as a total star and with a lifestyle of a true divo.
At that time, Luis Miguel had a contract to tour with his Mexican colleague
Alejandro Fernández
, called
Passion Tour
.
But at the last minute, Luismi decided to get out and that led to a trial by Fernández, for
five million dollars.
Armando Manzanero found a tone in his compositions that Luis Miguel managed to update with unusual success.
EFE / Mario Guzmán
But that was not the only thing that distanced Manzanero from Luis Miguel.
The personal problems of the Sol de México ended up exhausting Manzanero, who felt that
the singer became very proud and ungrateful
.
However, two years ago, Manzanero tried to put cold cloths on and not to further the conflict between the two.
"Luis Miguel and I have always had a connection. I am very grateful for all the songs he recorded for me
,
" he
said.
And he declared:
"He is the best of all the interpreters. Every day I hear him sing, every day he fascinates me more
.
"
On the other hand, the Mexican composer also came out to deny, after the premiere, what appears in
Luis Miguel.
The series
, where who plays his character says that young people were not going to want to listen to boleros.
"I never said that. Those are bullshit that they put on the series, I don't know if it's to sell more or whatever,"
Manzanero said then.
"Luis Miguel is an icon of Mexican song, an icon that Latin Americans have and that everyone is very interested in having
.
"
For his part, Luismi preferred to keep the comments on his relationship with the great composer to himself.
IS
