Lola Flores

Diagnoses

Personal

Vocation

Spanish singer, dancer, and actress, who was an icon of Andalusian folklore and Spanish Gypsy culture, recognized throughout Spain as well as internationally. Flores was not a gypsy herself but identified strongly with the Roma people and culture and eventually married into a Gitano family. She did, however, acknowledge that she had been told her maternal grandfather was of Romani extraction. She became a famous dancer and singer of Andalusian folklore at a very young age, performing flamenco, copla, and chotis and appearing in films from 1939 to 1987. She experienced her greatest success performing in folklore shows with Manolo Caracol, who was her artistic partner until 1951. In 1958, she married Antonio González el Pescaílla, a guitarist from Cataluña, Spain, who was Romani. She had three children: Dolores (singer and actress Lolita Flores); rock musician, singer and actor Antonio Flores; and singer and actress Rosario Flores. Lola Flores died of breast cancer on 16 May 1995, aged 72. Shortly after her death, her distraught 33-year-old son, Antonio Flores, committed suicide by overdosing on barbiturates and was buried beside her. The 2007 bio-pic "Lola, la película" describes her early life from 1931 until 1958. Link to Wikipedia biography