Vikki CARR

Vikki Carr is one of the best-loved and most accomplished entertainers in the United States, Latin America and Europe. The three-time Grammy Award winner, whose international success spans four decades, has released 59 best-selling recordings. She has performed for the Queen of England, five United States Presidents, wartime soldiers in Vietnam and sold-out audiences around the world. She has worked in radio, television, film and theater. Her music embraces two languages, and she is among the first artists to bridge the cultures of the United States and Latin America, paving the way for many performers today.
Vikki's latest project, the PBS special Vikki Carr: Memories, Memorias, is a salute to the English hits of the 1940s and 1950s, which were originally composed by Latinos. Produced by KCET/Hollywood, the program recreates the elegant setting of Hollywood supper clubs and theaters where popular artists of the era performed. The show, which features Jack Jones, Pepe Aguilar and Arturo Sandoval, was first released on video and CD through the national PBS pledge campaigns for 1999.

The diversity of her rich voice is impressive. She can belt out the blues or touch the heart with a soft romantic ballad. Frank Sinatra said, "She possesses my kind of voice," Dean Martin called her "the best girl singer in the business," and Bing Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald named her among their three favorite female singers of all time.

Florencia Biscenta de Casillas Martinez Cardona, was born in El Paso, Texas, but raised in the San Gabriel Valley of California. The eldest of seven children, Vikki Carr, as she later came to be known, began performing at the tender age of four singing Adeste Fidelis in Latin at a Christmas program. Her career was officially launched in 1961 when she was signed to a contract with Liberty Records. She recorded He's a Rebel, which first became a hit in Australia. That title was soon followed by the unforgettable release, It Must Be Him, which charged up the charts to #1 in England. One year later, the single was released in the United States and earned Carr three Grammy Award nominations. The international hit emerged again when she and the song were featured in the storyline of the Academy Award winning movie Moonstruck.
After It Must Be Him came a string of hits including With Pen in Hand, for which she received her fourth Grammy Award nomination, The Lesson, Can't Take My Eyes Off of You, and For Once in My Life.


By 1967, her international appeal was so great that she was invited to perform at a Royal Command Performance for Queen Elizabeth. She packed the London Palladium the following year, setting a precedent for her sold out concerts in Germany, Spain, France, England, Australia, Holland and Japan. A year earlier, she had toured military bases in Vietnam with Danny Kaye, which provided one of the most fulfilling experiences of her career. In 1990, she made a loving return to England with a date at London's Royal Albert Hall.

In the states, Vikki became a darling of the White House, performing regularly at State Dinners and at Richard's Nixon's 1973 Inaugural celebration. Gerald Ford called her his "favorite Mexican Dish." She also performed for Reagan, Bush and at the 1992 Presidential Summit hosted by Bill Clinton.
A frequent guest star on major network variety shows, including Dean Martin, Ed Sullivan, Perry Como, and Carol Burnett, Vikki also taped six specials for London Weekend TV. Vikki was the first female to regularly guest host for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. She has been a visitor and guest host on Michael Jackson's ABC radio show.

Vikki made her acting debut on The Bing Crosby Show. She has had several guest roles in numerous television series ranging from Mod Squad to Fantasy Island, and has co-hosted the nationally syndicated Mrs. America and Mrs. Woman of the World Pageants. Most recently, Carr has made two guest appearances on the popular series Baywatch.

The critics praised Vikki for her stage performances in South Pacific at the Starlight Theater in Kansas City and in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, with the John Kenley Players in Ohio. In 1983, her starring performance in I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road broke house records at the Westport Playhouse in St. Louis.
Columbia records signed Vikki Carr in 1970, releasing such favorites as Love Story, Live at the Greek, One Hell of a Woman and Ms. America, which was so ahead of its time.

Proud of her Mexican Heritage, Vikki Carr has always shared her birth name with her concert audiences and held a deep desire to one day record an album in Spanish. In 1972, she went to the head of Columbia Records for permission to do so, and while her request was initially met with resistance, Carr had a solution to every argument. "My Anglo audience has asked me to do this," she responded firmly. Several months later, she released her first Spanish language album, Vikki Carr en Espanol. Somos Novios, Grande, Grande and Se Acabo became momentous successes, and Vikki was established as one of the most popular and loved recording artists in the Latin World.

Since making her first personal appearance in Mexico in 1972, the country has had a love affair with Vikki Carr. She is the first non-National named Mexico's "Visiting Entertainer of the Year." Playing nightly to standing ovations and appearing on numerous Mexican programs, her two-hour special broke rating records, attracting more than half of the viewers in Mexico.
In 1980, because of the enormous success of her first Spanish language album, Columbia Records in Mexico offered her a contract, and beginning with Vikki Carr y El Amor, her triumphs were unbridled, especially in Latin America.

Songs like Total, Disculpame, Esos Hombres and Mala Suerte earned her Gold and Platinum albums in the United States, Mexico, Chile, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Columbia and Ecuador.

Carr followed with Grammy Award nominees Simplemente Mujer in 1985, Cosas del Amor in 1992, Brindo a la Vida, al Bordero y a Ti in 1993 and Recuerdo a Javier Solis in 1995, taking three of the four awards.

She has received prestigious awards, which include the 1998 Imagen Foundation Humanitarian Award, 1996 Hispanic Heritage Award, 1988 Nosotros Golden Eagle Award, 1986 Hispanic Woman of the Year, 1981 Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 1974 Doctorate in Law from San Diego University and Doctorate in Fine Arts from St. Edwards University, 1972 American Guild of Variety Artist's Entertainer of the Year, and the Los Angeles Times' highly respected Woman of the Year for 1970.
She earned the career achievement award of the Association of Hispanic Critics, Chicago's Ovation Award, the YWCA Silver Achievement Award and was honored in 1990 by the City of Hope with the Founder of Hope Award. In 1991, she was presented with the Girl Scouts of America Award.

Respected as both an artist and a humanitarian, she devotes time to many charities including The United Way. The American Lung Association, Cystic Fibrosis, Cerebral Palsy, The Muscular Dystrophy Association and St. Jude's Hospital. For 22 years she held benefit concerts to support the Holy Cross High School in San Antonio. In 1971 Vikki Carr established the Vikki Carr Scholarship Foundation, dedicated to offering college scholarships to Latino students in California and Texas. To date, the Foundation has awarded more than 280 scholarships totaling over a quarter of a million dollars.

"My voice is a gift, and a gift is nothing unless you can share it. I didn't like what I was reading and hearing about the image of Latinos and in particular Mexican-Americans. My publicist and friend told me to do something about it. The Foundation is my way of doing something," said Carr. "The Foundation seeks to help young Latino students achieve their goals through a college education, something I myself was never able to do."
Juggling engagements, recording sessions, charity events and family, the pace is frantic, but she remains calm. Smart, successful, warm and engaging, Vikki Carr's energy and style are as radiant and irresistible as her extraordinary voice.

The official Vikki Carr Website
Site Officiel de Vikki Carr