Spanish bombshell Charo – long known and beloved for her “Cuchi Cuchi” catchphrase, irrepressible humor and accent and incredible guitar chops – has been a household name for almost four decades. During the 1970s, she all but monopolized every popular TV show with appearances, performed with all the big names in Vegas and produced a number of hit albums.
Now Charo is making a return to pop culture’s landscape with a fresh pop confection, “Sexy Sexy.” She’s going to perform the ditty at Jeffrey Sanker’s White Party Palm Springs T Dance on April 10, showing her love for, and sharing effervescent Cuchi Cuchi with the gay community.
“I’ll be there with 20 of the most handsome guys you ever saw – half naked,” she shares, while sitting in Times Square’s chic W Hotel lobby. “When Jeffrey Sanker makes an event, it is bigger than when Cleopatra came to Rome to meet Julius Caesar.”
Charo has long been an ally of the LGBT community. She can share endless anecdotes about LGBT Hollywood friends – albeit ones whom, at the time, chose to remain publicly closeted – including Paul Lynde and Liberace. (“In his main dining room, he had a huge tray filled with fresh parsley, because he cooked with a lot of garlic and was obsessed with bad breath so everybody was eating parsley.”) She stayed at the latter’s side when, during the mid ’80s, his other “friends” all fled when they learned he had AIDS.
“To me, a gay actually is a greater person because they have an extra sense that a straight person doesn’t,” she says. “Look into history. For centuries, the greatest painters, composers, historians are gay! And the reason must be because they’re extra sensitive. When I am composing music, I swear to you I hold the guitar close to my heart and close my eyes because I put all my senses into each note. I think gays have an extra sense. [Heterosexuals] have five. Gays have six. I admire that. When I need an opinion I call my gay friends and ask what do you think of this? If they say, ‘Charo, it sucks,’ I drop it. If they love it, I go ahead.”
Born in Murcia, Spain, and mentored by Spanish guitar legend Andrés Segovia, the teenage Charo (full name María del Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Gutiérrez de los Perales Santa Ana Romanguera y de la Hinojosa Rasten) was discovered by, and later married, bandleader Xavier Cugat. Once in the USA, Charo became a familiar face on television and soon became a household name.
She absconded to Hawaii and dropped out of the spotlight during the late ’80s and ’90s to raise her son, Shel Rasten (she also opened a restaurant there), but reappeared during the 2000s on VH-1’s The Surreal Life and with new recordings and Vegas engagements (where she currently lives with husband Kjell Rasten).
“Sexy Sexy” marks a new chapter for both Charo and her son, who actually scribed the song.
“I failed completely as a parent,” she muses, with mock drama. “I wanted Shel to become a lawyer and make a lot of money and sit at a desk and have a happy family. I abandoned my career for a long time so my son would grow up on a regular timely schedule, not with nannies, and to protect myself so when he grew up he wouldn’t write a book called ‘Cuchi Cuchi Dearest.’ And when he graduated (and got his degree) he came to L.A. and said to me, ‘that is your dream hanging on the wall, because I am a musician, a composer and singer and actor and now I will follow my heart.’ I was so upset!
“So his music publisher contacted him to write something for Britney Spears. I was in Las Vegas and I came in, heard him making it, and I said, ‘I like that song!’ He said, ‘I’m going to send a demo right now to the manager of Britney Spears,’ and I said screw Britney Spears – give it to me! It is so perfect for me! If you don’t give it to me I’m going to show you my cesarean scar! So he gave it to me. That’s my defense. When I don’t get my way, I show him the scar.”
While Charo acknowledges that many modern recording techniques were put to use making “Sexy Sexy,” elements that set its sound apart include a group of Brazilian percussionists, Charo’s own live guitar playing and old school analog tape. “It’s a very different sound – DJs love it!” she smiles.
After the White Party, Charo will continue to tour across the country (including Cerritos, Thousand Oaks and Glendora, CA in May), but says she ultimately wants to settle down and concentrate on her legacy project of teaching children – for free via the Internet – the techniques she was handed down by Segovia.
So does this mean her son Shel can get back to writing a song for Britney Spears?
“Screw Britney again!” she fires back. “After “Sexy Sexy” is a success, I will take his next song or the shit will hit the fan … and I’ll threaten to show him my cesarean scar. He cannot take it!”
I’ve always loved Charo. I thought she was beautiful. I enjoyed listening to her play the guitar. If only I could play like her. She was an excellent role model for girls. You can be pretty, smart and talented.