Armando Manzanero
Armando Manzanero Canché (7 December 1935 – 28 December 2020) was a Mexican musician, singer, composer, actor and music producer, widely considered the premier Mexican romantic composer of the postwar era and one of the most successful composers of Latin America.[1] He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in the United States in 2014. He was the president of the Mexican Society of Authors and Composers (Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de México).
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Manzanero and the second or maternal family name is Canché.
Armando Manzanero
Armando Manzanero Canché
7 December 1935
Ticul, Yucatán, Mexico
28 December 2020 (aged 85)
Mexico City, Mexico
- Composer
- pianist
- singer
- Piano
- voice
1950–2020
Early life[edit]
Manzanero was born in Ticul, Yucatán on 7 December 1935.[2] His father was singer and composer Santiago Manzanero and his mother Juanita Canché Baqueiro played the jarana jarocha.[3] At the age of eight he was introduced to the world of music at the Escuela de Bellas Artes (School of Fine Arts), later furthering his musical studies in Mexico City.[3]
Death[edit]
On 17 December 2020, Manzanero was hospitalized in Mexico City after being diagnosed with COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico.[9] Manzanero died eleven days later from the virus, aged 85 on 28 December 2020, twenty one days after his birthday.[2] His body was cremated and his ashes were transferred to Mérida, in Yucatán where he was born and where there is a house museum in his honor.
Recognition[edit]
Manzanero was presented with the Excellence Award at the 1993 Lo Nuestro Awards.[10] He received the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010[11] as well as the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.[12] Manzanero was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2000,[13] the Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2003,[14] and the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013.[15] Manzanero was presented with the ASCAP Latin Heritage Award in 2010.[16] He also earned the Billboard Latin Music Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.[17]