Vikki Carr (born July 19 1941, in El Paso, Texas as Florencia Vicenta de Casillas Martinez Cardona) is an American singer who has performed in a variety of music genres, including jazz, pop and country, but has enjoyed her greatest success singing in Spanish.

Career

After taking the stage name "Vikki Carr" the singer signed with Liberty Records in 1962. Her first single to achieve any success was "He's a Rebel", which in 1962 reached No. 5 in Australia and No. 115 in the United States. In 1966 she toured Vietnam with actor/comedian Danny Kaye. The following year her album It Must Be Him was nominated for three Grammy Awards. The title track reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in 1967. She had two other songs make the U.S. Top 40: 1968's "The Lesson" and 1969's "With Pen in Hand". Around this time, Dean Martin called her "the best girl singer in the business". Carr had 10 singles which made the U.S. pop charts and 13 albums which made the U.S. pop album charts.

In 1968, she taped six specials for London Weekend TV. In 1970, she was named "Woman of the Year" by the Los Angeles Times. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1981. Carr also achieved the rare feat of singing for five presidents during her career: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Bill Clinton. Ford writes in his autobiography, A Time to Heal, that when Carr appeared at the White House, she asked the president, "What Mexican dish do you like?" His response: "I like you." He goes on to write that the First Lady was not pleased: "Betty overheard the exchange, and needless to say, she wasn't wild about it." In the 1980s and 1990s Carr had enormous success in the Latin music world, winning Grammy Awards for Best Mexican-American Recording in 1985 for the album Simplemente Mujer; for Latin Pop Album in 1992 for the disc Cosas del Amor; and for Best Mexican-American Recording in 1995 for Recuerdo a Javier Solis. She also received Grammy nominations for the discs Brindo a La Vida, Al Bolero, A Ti (1993) and Emociones (1996). Her numerous Spanish-language hit singles include "Total," "Discúlpame," "Déjame," "Hay Otro en Tu Lugar," "Esos Hombres," "Mala Suerte" and "Cosas del Amor." The latter song spent more than two months at No. 1 on the U.S. Latin charts in 1991, her biggest Spanish-language U.S. hit. Her Spanish-language albums have been certified gold and platinum in Mexico, Chile, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador.

In recent years, she taped a PBS TV special, Vikki Carr: Memories, Memorias (1999}, in which she performed popular bilingual tunes from the 1940s and 1950s. Her guests were Pepe Aguilar, Arturo Sandoval and Jack Jones. In 2001, she released a bilingual holiday album, The Vikki Carr Christmas Album.

In 2002, she appeared to great acclaim in a Los Angeles production of the Stephen Sondheim musical Follies, which also featured Hal Linden, Patty Duke and Harry Groener. In 2006, Carr made a cameo appearance in a straight-to-video thriller called Puerto Vallarta Squeeze. In 2008, Carr hosted a PBS TV special, Fiesta Mexicana, which celebrated the music and dance of Mexico.

Charitable work

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

Discography

Albums

• Color Her Great! (1963)
• Discovery! (1964) (U.S. #114)
• Discovery Vol. II (1964)
• Anatomy of Love (1965)
• The Way of Today (1966) (UK #31)
• Intimate Excitement (1967)
• It Must Be Him (1967) (U.S. #12; UK #12)
• Great Performances (1967) (UK release only)
• Vikki! (1968) (U.S. #63)
• Don't Break My Pretty Balloon (1968)
• For Once in My Life (1969) (U.S. #29)
• Nashville by Car (1970) (U.S. #111)
• The Ways to Love a Man (1971)
• Que Sea El (1971)
• Love Story (1971) (U.S. #60)
• Superstar (1971) (U.S. #118)
• The First Time Ever (I Saw Your Face) (1972) (U.S. #146)
• En Español (1972) (U.S. #106)
• Ms. America (1973) (U.S. #142)
• Live at the Greek Theatre (1973) (U.S. #172)
• One Hell of a Woman (1974) (U.S. #155)
• Hoy (1975) (U.S. #203)
• Y El Amor (1980)
• El Retrato del Amor (1981)
• Vikki Carr (1982)
• A Todos (1984)
• Simplemente Mujer (1985) (U.S. Latin Pop #15; U.S. Regional Mexican #3)
• Promesas (1986)
• Esta Noche Vendrás (1986)
• OK Mr. Tango (with Mariano Mores) (1986)
• Me Enloqueces (1987)
• Dos Corazones (with Vicente Fernandez) (1987) (U.S. Regional Mexican #2)
• Esos Hombres (1988) (U.S. Latin Pop #4)
• Set Me Free (1990)
• Cosas del Amor (1991) (U.S. Latin Pop #1)
• Brindo a La Vida, Al Bolero, A Ti (1993)
• Recuerdo a Javier Solís (1994) (U.S. Latin Pop #10)
• Emociones (1996)
• Vikki Carr con el Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán (1998)
• Memories, Memorias (1999)
• The Vikki Carr Christmas Album (2001)

Chart singles

1962: "He's a Rebel" (Australia #5; U.S. #115)
1966: "My Heart Reminds Me" (U.S. Adult Contemporary #31)
1966: "It Must Be Him" (UK #2; 1967: U.S. #3; U.S. Adult Contemporary #1; Australia #2)
1966: "So Nice (Summer Samba)" (U.S. Adult Contemporary #32)
1966: "Until Today" (U.S. Adult Contemporary #39)
1966: "Now I Know the Feeling" (U.S. Adult Contemporary #28)
1967: "There I Go" (UK #50)
1967: "The Lesson" (U.S. #34; U.S. Adult Contemporary #1)
1968: "She'll Be There" (U.S. #99; U.S. Adult Contemporary #13)
1968: "Your Heart Is Free Just Like the Wind" (U.S. #91; U.S. Adult Contemporary #32)
1968: "Don't Break My Pretty Balloon" (U.S. #114; U.S. Adult Contemporary #7)
1968: "A Dissatisfied Man" (U.S. Adult Contemporary #18)
1969: "With Pen in Hand" (U.S. #35; U.S. Adult Contemporary #6)
1969: "Eternity" (U.S. #79; U.S. Adult Contemporary #5)
1970: "Singing My Song" (U.S. #111; U.S. Adult Contemporary #30)remake of the Tammy Wynette Number one country single from 1969
1970: "I'll Be Home" (U.S. #96; U.S. Adult Contemporary #7)
1971: "Six Weeks Every Summer (Christmas Every Other Year)" (U.S. Adult Contemporary #28)
1971: "I'd Do It All Again" (U.S. Adult Contemporary #39)
1972: "The Big Hurt" (U.S. #108; U.S. Adult Contemporary #31)
1974: "Wind Me Up" (U.S. Adult Contemporary #45)
1986: "Esta noche vendrás" (U.S. Hot Latin Tracks #33)
1987: "Dos Corazones" (duet with Vicente Fernández) (U.S. Hot Latin Tracks #10)
1988: "Mala Suerte" (U.S. Hot Latin Tracks #3)
1988: "Hay otro en tu lugar" (U.S. Hot Latin Tracks #14)
1989: "Esos Hombres" (U.S. Hot Latin Tracks #37)
1991: "Cosas del amor" (duet with Ana Gabriel) (U.S. Hot Latin Tracks #1)
1993: "Déjame" (U.S. Hot Latin Tracks #30)

References