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MERCEDES SIMONE MERCEDES SIMONE
was born on the 31st of April 1904 in La Plata, the capital city of the Buenos Aires province. At six years of age she was already singing at school. In her teens she began working as a dressmaker's assistant and in a bookbinder's workshop, where she would meet the man who would soon become her hushand: Pablo Rodriguez, a guitarist and singer.
After a time spent practising and rehearsing at home, the couple formed a duo and made their first public appearance in 1925 in the southern town of Bahia Blanca at the Los Dos Chinos salon de te, then later at the Odeon Theater.
Much later, while touring the towns of the province, performing to very appreciative audiences, the couple were discovered by Alfredo Pelaia, one half of the Pelaia-ltalo duo, a combination very popular on radio at the time. Alfredo was adamant:
"Mercedes can make it".
From that moment on Pablo assumed the roles of agent, secretary and guitarist on behalf of his wife, now a soloist in her own right.

In 1927 Mercedes made her Buenos Aires debut at the Opera Theater with Julio F. Escobar's vaudeville company. Her success was such that impresarios were soon calling her to perform in the many different quarters of Buenos Aires, and her being booked to appear at the following theaters: the Maipo, the Florida, the Porteño and the Hindu, all of where she was accompanied by two guitarists: Pablo and Reinaldo Baudino.

In 1928 she made an appearance on Radio Splendid, and almost immediately afterwards the celebrated singer Rosita Quiroga encouraged her to make her first recordings. They were very favourably received, but widespread recognition arrived later with titles such as "Celosa" "La Pollita", "Inocencia", "La Florista" "Milonga Sentimental" and others, which soon brought her success across the entire Latin-American continent. She also took part as a singer and actress in the films "Tango" and "Sombras Porteñas" (1935), "La Vuelta de Rocha" (1937), and "Ambición" (1939).


An authentic symbol of the tango, Mercedes Simone forms, together with Rosita Quiroga, Azuzena Maizani and Libertad Lamarque, an integral part of the golden age of the Argentine tango whenever feminine voices are being referred to.

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