The world of music in general, and the Eurofan universe in particular, are in mourning. Singer Carmelo Martínez died this morning at the age of 64, as has been announced through social networks and BLUPER has been able to confirm. The artist has not managed to overcome lung cancer against which he had been fighting for a year, according to the management agency Latrama Planners.
With a long artistic career, Carmelo Martínez will be remembered for belonging to the group La Década Prodigiosa during the 80s. A group that was characterized by its medleys and choreographies, although it also had its own songs.
In 1988, Televisión Española chose the group internally to represent Spain in Eurovision, with the theme ‘La chica que yo quiero’ (‘Made in Spain’) . The Prodigious Decade scored 58 points at that Festival, which was held in Dublin, Ireland. Votes that resulted in an eleventh place in the leaderboard, with Carmelo being the main vocalist of the song along with José Subiza.
At that time, The Prodigious Decade had eight members, but only six took the stage. Along with Martínez and Subiza were Ana Nery Fragoso and Cecilia Fernández Blanco as choristers and dancers and Manel Santisteban and Manuel Aguilar as choristers and guitar and bass, respectively. Another component, Javier de Juan, was the conductor, while Manolo Rodríguez had to settle for seeing the festival in the VIP area.
It should be noted that at that time the group was not very satisfied with their choice. And it is that, not very different from what happens today, it was said that the Festival was outdated, old-fashioned, and few asked to go. Likewise, the subject was not entirely to their liking, and years later they said that it would not have been bad for Televisión Española to have given them the power to choose between several songs. ” I would have chosen another topic, but they didn’t give us that option, ” Carmelo would say in an interview with OGAE.
Carmelo was always very dedicated to the Eurofan public, and it was frequent to see him at congresses of Festival lovers. Often, he used to remember that the monitors were not being heard and that he had a hard time deciphering when to start singing.
He also says that that night the party ended in the hotel room of Celine Dion, the winner of that contest.
Another anecdote that he used to share is that David Bowie congratulated him after his performance and that he kept the accreditation that Joan Collins lent him when he lost hers and that he made him “fairy godmother”.
As he recalled at the AEV congress in 2015, ‘Made in Spain’ was recorded in several languages, such as French, Italian or Japanese, and in fact, in Japan, The Prodigious Decade came to rank above Michael Jackson and Madonna on the list of sales according to the reports that reached the group members.
Following his departure from La Década Prodigiosa, Carmelo Martínez began a solo career, which left works such as En high tension, from 1990. In 1996 he formed the group Decadance with his partner José Subiza, and in 2005 he recovers the essence of La Década Prodigiosa with the group El guateque de la decade, with which he tries to represent Spain at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘Canto a Los amigos’.
Since then, he has alternated his solo career (with the 2014 album Escrito en el viento as an example) with his career in El guateque de la decade, which currently featured Carmelo himself along with Lola Massey, Benjamín Paredes, and Raquel Ruiz. A few years ago he also joined the group El Regreso de la Década en Vivo as a guest during a tour.
Within his repertoire, there was never a lack of the song ‘Made in Spain’, to which he always attached great affection. He even recorded a new version in 2016 with José Zapata, Cristina Conde, and Javián.
Amelia Warner
Amelia Warner writes all the Latest Articles. She mostly covers Entertainment topics, but at times loves to write about movie reviews as well.
