The Sevillian actress and singer Encarnita Polo has died at the age of 86 in Ávila: according to the first indications she would have been strangled by a fellow resident. Polo was one of the most important figures in pop music and copla of the sixties and seventies and triumphed with his well-known song Paco, Paco, Paco.
The National Police has reported in a message sent to the media that this Friday there was a death at the Decanos residence in Ávila that is being investigated by the Provincial Brigade of the Judicial Police. As police sources have informed EL PAÍS, the main hypothesis with which investigators are working is that Polo’s death occurred after the attack of an octogenarian colleague from the residence who was allegedly affected by a mental problem. The alleged aggressor had not shown signs of aggression and has been admitted to a Psychiatry service after the attack.
His daughter, Raquel Waitzman Polo, has communicated the death to her acquaintances and has asked for respect and privacy for the family in these delicate moments. “She was a strong, fun woman with a unique character,” can be read in a statement sent to the media in which it is stated that the deceased was “an unforgettable singer and actress, a pioneer of flamenco-pop whose voice and personality marked several generations.”
Encarnita Polo was born in Seville on January 22, 1939 into a large family, but she grew up in Barcelona where her mother moved after her father died. There he began in the world of song with the help of the dancer Antonio Marín.
Advised by the French singer Charles Aznavour, she abandoned her Andalusian repertoire in the early sixties to become a pop singer. In 1963 he recorded his first album, with songs like The ballad of dawn y on the beachwhich they followed a broken dream y I love you.
He published his songs in 1965 Andalusian, long street y 1000 hoursthe latter song with which he performed at the Mediterranean Song Festival. At that time, the singer participated in successful musical programs on TVE such as Monday’s friends, Saturday night o The time of. His performances were followed in Portugal, France and Italy, a country in which he won first prize at the RAI festival in 1964 for Naples Contra Tutti.
With her growing popularity, she was soon called for television and film. In 1965, with the help of Domenico Modugno, he debuted in the musical feature film Scaramouche. Also in Italy he participated in the filming of four westerns and in 1966 he starred in the film 07 with 2 in frontunder the direction of Ignacio F. Iquino. From 1967 it was The Ballad of Bonnie and Clydewith which he achieved important recording successes and which was followed you know nothing about life y being in love.
At the end of the sixties, and with the help of her later husband, the Argentine composer Adolfo Waiztman, she took a new turn in her musical career with works in which she fused flamenco and pop. From this merger arose in 1969 the new version of Pepa Banderawhich became his big hit, number one on the music charts of the time.
In 1970 he had his second great record success with Paco, Paco, Pacowhich followed Olewith which the singer definitively established herself in the movement then called flamenco-pop. Selected to compete in the TVE competition program Passport to Dublinby Valerio Lazarov, recorded between 1971 and 1972 numerous songs that were popular at the time. In addition, she performed the sung version of the tune composed by her husband Adolfo Waitzman for the television series This man in black, which starred the late actor José Luis López Vázquez. After his marital separation, he temporarily left shows and later recorded the album I woke up.
In 1982 he released the LP Incarna Polo and ten years later, in 1992, the compact disc Encarnáa compilation of his best-known songs. Your disk Locafrom 1998, was one of his last recordings. Since then, his professional activity was noticeably reduced, although he was a popular face who was much loved and invited to television programs.
In November 2012, he revealed that he was one of the people affected by Bankia’s preferences and claimed to have lost considerable funds. In recent years she lived away from the media and was treated for cancer.