# Cecilia Pantoja

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In this [Spanish name](/source/Spanish_name), the first or paternal [surname](/source/Surname) is *Pantoja* and the second or maternal family name is *Levi*.

Cecilia Pantoja Pantoja in 2016 Background information Also known as Cecilia, Cecilia la incomparable Born Cecilia Pantoja Levi (1943-10-21)21 October 1943 Tomé, Chile Died 24 July 2023(2023-07-24) (aged 79) Santiago, Chile Genres Bolero, mambo, chachachá, italian tango, rock and roll Occupation singer-songwriter Years active 1960–2023

Musical artist

**Mireya Cecilia Ramona Pantoja Levi** (21 October 1943 – 24 July 2023), better known simply as **Cecilia** or **Cecilia la Incomparable**, was a Chilean singer-songwriter, and a member of the *[nueva ola](/source/Nueva_ola)* music movement.[1]

Pantoja was considered by some critics as the greatest teen star of the mid-1960s and the most prominent and influential act of the [nueva ola](/source/Nueva_ola) movement.[2]

## Biography

### Beginnings

Mireya Cecilia Ramona Pantoja Levi was born in [Tomé](/source/Tom%C3%A9) on 21 October 1943 at 10 pm. She was the daughter of Fernando Pantoja Rubilar and Luisa Levi. She was the youngest of the family made up of her brothers Marietta and Fernando. She attended highschool at Liceo de Tomé. She was called simply as *Cecilia*, as she was always called by her family and friends.

Cecilia began singing at the end of the 1950s in the band *Los de Tomé*, a melodic quartet originally formed by three González brothers and whose name is attributed to the city of origin of its members. After the recording of a first and only single disc for the [RCA label](/source/RCA_Records) at the beginning of the 1960s, the group broke up, and she went solo with a vocal support group they baptized *The Singers*. With them she arrived at the [Odeón](/source/Ode%C3%B3n) studios in 1962 to record his first solo work, a single album that by adding its two sides, combines two different musical styles: an Italian tango (one of many) and rock and roll performed in the native language *(I wanna live)*.[3][4]

### Early success and decline

Cecilia at the 2018 *Cumbre del Rock Chileno* Festival.

A couple of years after her solo debut, driven by Italian tango songs such as *Tango de las rosas* (1963), *Aleluya*, and *Baño de mar a medianoche* (1964), Cecilia achieved popularity. Between the years 1963 and 1965, she led the sales and popularity lists of the press and radio; Her fans flocked to the radio stations, theaters and stadiums where her concerts were held. Her name also led several of the main musical tours organized by the country in those years.

Her stage display was brash and provocative, with a musical catalogue that spanned several [musical genres](/source/Musical_genres), which would make her a symbol of sexual emancipation by transgressing manners, conventions and customs. In his participation in the [1965 Viña del Mar International Song Festival](/source/Vi%C3%B1a_del_Mar_International_Song_Festival), she competed with the song *Como una ola*, entangling herself in a sharp controversy with the authorities of the time for violating the recommendation not to perform his characteristic taquito kiss, a scenic gesture inspired by soccer technique and considered inappropriate to be performed by a woman at the time. She responded with grimaces, mocking gestures and the occasional taquito kiss.[5][6]

Rubén Nouzeilles, her first musical producer and then artistic director of the Odeón label, had a great influence on her musical and artistic style. He did not agree with the presumed lightness of the Nueva Ola. Her musical training was broad enough to include productions by dissimilar musicians, such as [Lucho Gatica](/source/Lucho_Gatica), her friend [Violeta Parra](/source/Violeta_Parra) and [Los Huasos Quincheros](/source/Los_Huasos_Quincheros). Cecilia's recordings that bear Nouzeilles' signature were definitely the most significant of her career, and were characterized by rich orchestrations arranged by Odeón staff directors such as Luis Barragán and [Valentín Trujillo](/source/Valent%C3%ADn_Trujillo_(pianist)).

Cecilia's artistic decline coincided with her removal from the Odeon since the second half of the decade at the hands of new youthful idols, among them [José Alfredo Fuentes](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jos%C3%A9_Alfredo_Fuentes&action=edit&redlink=1), in 1968 she decided to move to the CBS/Philips label and start recording songs that would give her career a more adult and international profile. In 1970 she proposed progressive versions for songs by Violeta Parra *[Gracias a la vida](/source/Gracias_a_la_vida)* and [Víctor Jara](/source/V%C3%ADctor_Jara) *Plegaria a un labrador*. The most important record of that period was *Compromiso*, a rock ballad that three decades later would be rescued by [Javiera y Los Imposibles](/source/Javiera_y_Los_Imposibles). At her time, however, the success of this stylistic experiment was unsatisfactory. After releasing her first and only LP for CBS/Philips, *Gracias a la vida* (1970), she unsuccessfully tried to start a career in Mexico and on his return amidst government of the [Popular Unity](/source/Popular_Unity_(Chile)), she founded his own record label, *Chía Producciones*, for which he recorded a few melancholic and romantic songs that had little diffusion.[7]

### Resurgence as an underground figure

By the time of the [1973 Chilean coup d'état](/source/1973_Chilean_coup_d'%C3%A9tat) she was singing at nightclubs in the capital, and since then, those stages became a refuge for her artistic survival. Unlike other singers of her generation, the former queen of the *Nueva Ola* remained outside the official and massive broadcast circuits. In the underground of the [depressed national bohemia](/source/Military_dictatorship_of_Chile_(1973%E2%80%931990)#Cultural_life), Cecilia began to rise as a legend for a new generation that began to value her as a cult figure. The first signal in this regard was delivered by the theater director Vicente Ruiz, who in 1984 used songs by Cecilia to musicalize a version of the play *Hipólito*, which was staged at the *El Trolley* theater. «She —he declared in December 1984 to the *Wikén* supplement of the newspaper *El Mercurio* —is like someone majestic who disappeared into the darkness of anonymity due to a possible self-destruction. All her songs are about love; but of a fatal love, impossible to specify. She is a woman who marginalized herself." Although the production of *Hipólito* had a very marginal impact, it was the starting point for Cecilia to be revalued among new generations.

Then there was a series of concerts (one of them sold out at the [Teatro Caupolicán](/source/Teatro_Caupolic%C3%A1n)), with her former artistic director, Leo García. Then Rubén Nouzeilles released two compiled albums in digital format, *La incomparable* (1995) and *Un día te diré* (1997), whose sales totaled more than 100 thousand units, revealing the popular roots of the songs.[8][9][10]

### Later recognition

Cecilia receiving the *Premio a la Música Nacional Presidente de la República* in 2016

At the turn of the century, *Cecilia, reina y mito* was released, a play about Cecilia's life that touched on the subject of alcoholism and homosexuality, feeding the myth about her figure.[11] The unauthorized biography *Cecilia, la vida en llamas* (2002, Planet), by Cristóbal Peña also contributed to that. After remaining on sale for a month, the book was seized by order of the First Criminal Court of Santiago, due to a criminal case that sought to evaluate possible advertising injuries accused by Ceciliar in a lawsuit.[12] A year and a half later, the case was closed without the court reaching a ruling on the merits of the claim, because the abandonment of the procedure was decreed, a decision that was later confirmed by the Court of Appeals of Santiago.[13][14]

For much of her musical career, Cecilia Pantoja Levi -like all the singers of her generation- limited herself to managing her musical heritage from the 1960s. In 2016 she received *Premio a la Música Nacional Presidente de la República* in popular music, handed by president [Michelle Bachelet](/source/Michelle_Bachelet).[15][16]

Many artists of younger generations have recognized her influence such as [Álvaro Henríquez](/source/%C3%81lvaro_Henr%C3%ADquez), [Javiera Parra](/source/Javiera_Parra), [Denisse Malebran](/source/Denisse_Malebran) and [Mon Laferte](/source/Mon_Laferte) among others.[17][18]

In 2023 a biographic TV series entitled *"Cecilia: Bravura Plateada"* was broadcast in [TVN](/source/Televisi%C3%B3n_Nacional_de_Chile), starring [Amaya Forch](/source/Amaya_Forch) as Cecilia.[19][20]

Cecilia Pantoja died on 24 July 2023, at the age of 79 in [Santiago](/source/Santiago), Chile.[21]

## Discography

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

### Studio albums

- *Cecilia* (1964)

- *Cecilia, la incomparable* (1965)

- *Estamos solas, guitarra* (1968)

- *Gracias a la vida* (1970)

### Live albums

- *Cecilia en vivo* (2000)

- *Cecilia en concierto: Santiago 2006* (2006)

- *Mi historia (en vivo)* (2021)

### Compilations

- *Cecilia: Sus más grandes éxitos* (1980)

- *Cecilia: Sus más grandes éxitos II* (1982)

- *La incomparable* (1995)

- *Un día te diré* (1998)

- *Antología 1960–1970* (2002)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ¡Vamos Chilenas!, [Cecilia (Cecilia Pantoja Levi)](http://www.vamoschilenas.cl/blog/biografias/cecilia/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20120425090614/http://www.vamoschilenas.cl/blog/biografias/cecilia/) 25 April 2012 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine), in Spanish.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Cecilia](http://www.musicapopular.cl/3.0/index2.php?op=Artista&id=99) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20130326170052/http://www.musicapopular.cl/3.0/index2.php?op=Artista&id=99) 26 March 2013 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) Cristóbal Peña, musicapopular.cl. Retrieved 24 February 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Cecilia"](http://www.musicapopular.cl/artista/cecilia/). *MusicaPopular.cl* (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 July 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Las 24 confesiones de Cecilia – Memoria Chilena"](http://www.memoriachilena.gob.cl/602/w3-article-75160.html). *Memoria Chilena: Portal* (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 July 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["El controversial "beso de taquito" de Cecilia por el que fue criticada en el Festival de Viña de 1965"](https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/espectaculos-y-tv/notas-espectaculos-tv/2023/07/25/el-controversial-beso-de-taquito-de-cecilia-por-el-que-fue-criticada-en-el-festival-de-vina-de-1965.shtml). *BioBioChile – La Red de Prensa Más Grande de Chile* (in Spanish). 25 July 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Cecilia "La Incomparable", un icono transgresor de la música popular chilena"](https://www.infobae.com/america/agencias/2023/07/25/cecilia-la-incomparable-un-icono-transgresor-de-la-musica-popular-chilena/). *[Infobae](/source/Infobae)* (in European Spanish). Retrieved 26 July 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Cecilia"](http://www.musicapopular.cl/artista/cecilia/). *MusicaPopular.cl* (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 July 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Cecilia"](http://www.musicapopular.cl/artista/cecilia/). *MusicaPopular.cl* (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 July 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Las 24 confesiones de Cecilia – Memoria Chilena"](http://www.memoriachilena.gob.cl/602/w3-article-75160.html). *Memoria Chilena: Portal* (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 July 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Cecilia "La Incomparable", un icono transgresor de la música popular chilena"](https://www.infobae.com/america/agencias/2023/07/25/cecilia-la-incomparable-un-icono-transgresor-de-la-musica-popular-chilena/). *[Infobae](/source/Infobae)* (in European Spanish). Retrieved 26 July 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Leiva, Jorge (3 January 1997). ["That they see me as they want to see me"](http://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/628/w3-article-174478.html). *La Tercera*. p. 43. Retrieved 5 May 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["Judge upheld order to seize the book "Cecilia, life on fire""](https://www.cooperativa.cl/noticias/cultura/jueza-mantuvo-orden-para-incautar-el-libro-cecilia-la-vida-en-llamas/2002-12-05/142000.html). *Cooperative*. 5 December 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["Court of Appeals allows sale of book "Cecilia: Life on fire""](https://www.emol.com/noticias/magazine/2004/03/09/141060/corte-de-apelaciones-permite-venta-from-book-cecilia-life-on-flames.html). *Emol*. 9 March 2004. Retrieved 5 May 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** ["Cecilia, la incomparable, y los rumores en torno a su vida íntima: "Aunque fuera lesbiana no lo diría""](https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/espectaculos-y-tv/notas-espectaculos-tv/2023/07/25/cecilia-la-incomparable-y-los-rumores-en-torno-a-su-vida-intima-aunque-fuera-lesbiana-no-lo-diria.shtml). *BioBioChile – La Red de Prensa Más Grande de Chile* (in Spanish). 25 July 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** ["\[ARCHIVO\] Presidenta entregó el Premio a la Música Nacional Presidente de la República 2016 – Gob.cl"](https://www.gob.cl/noticias/presidenta-entrego-el-premio-a-la-musica-nacional-presidente-de-la-republica-2016/). *Gobierno de Chile* (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 July 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Tercera, La (25 July 2023). ["Manifiesto: Cecilia Pantoja, cantante"](https://www.latercera.com/diario-impreso/manifiesto-cecilia-pantoja-cantante/). *La Tercera*. Retrieved 26 July 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-preguntas_17-0)** ["Mon Laferte respondió a preguntas incómodas cantando"](https://web.archive.org/web/20180929154920/http://www.ar13.cl/musica/mon-laferte-respondio-a-preguntas-incomodas-cantando). *www.ar13.cl*. Archived from [the original](http://www.ar13.cl/musica/mon-laferte-respondio-a-preguntas-incomodas-cantando) on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** [""Lo estaba pasando re mal": Así fueron los últimos años de vida de Cecilia, la incomparable, en medio de la soledad"](https://www.encancha.cl/tiempo-x/musica/2023/07/25/lo-estaba-pasando-re-mal-asi-fueron-los-ultimos-anos-de-vida-de-cecilia-la-incomparable-en-medio-de-la-soledad/). *En Cancha* (in Spanish). 25 July 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** Valdivia, Gonzalo (25 July 2023). ["Amaya Forch es Cecilia, la Incomparable: qué sabemos de la primera serie sobre la cantante"](https://www.latercera.com/culto/2023/07/25/amaya-forch-es-cecilia-la-incomparable-que-sabemos-de-la-primera-serie-sobre-la-cantante/). *La Tercera*. Retrieved 30 April 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** González, Isidora (30 September 2023). [""Cecilia, La Incomparable": ¿Cuándo y dónde ver la serie?"](https://los40.cl/2023/cecilia-la-incomparable-cuando-y-donde-ver-la-serie-167815.html). *LOS40 Chile* (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 April 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** ["Fallece Cecilia, la Incomparable a la edad de 79 años"](https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/artes-y-cultura/musica/2023/07/25/fallece-cecilia-la-incomparable-a-la-edad-de-79-anos.shtml). *BioBioChile – La Red de Prensa Más Grande de Chile* (in Spanish). 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.

## External links

- [Cecilia Pantoja](https://www.discogs.com/artist/Cecilia+%2812%29) discography at [Discogs](/source/Discogs)

- [Cecilia Pantoja](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4799893/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

v t e Fundamental figures of Chilean music 1987 José Goles 1988 Luis Aguirre Pinto 1989 Francisco Flores del Campo 1990 Vicente Bianchi 1991 Donato Román y Ester Soré 1992 Valentín Trujillo 1993 Margot Loyola 1994 Gabriela Pizarro 1995 Antonio Prieto 1996 Dúo Rey-Silva 1997 Los Jaivas 1998 Hernán "Nano" Núñez 1999 Sonia y Myriam 2000 Fernando Rosas 2001 Luis Advis 2002 Los Ángeles Negros 2003 Isabel y Ángel Parra 2004 Patricio Manns 2005 Lucho Gatica 2006 Buddy Richard 2007 Silvia Infantas 2008 Los Huasos Quincheros 2009 Palmenia Pizarro 2010 Tito Fernández 2011 Cecilia Pantoja 2012 Calatambo Albarracín 2013 Fernando García 2014 Roberto Lecaros 2015 Gastón Guzmán 2016 Willy Bascuñán 2017 Quilapayún 2018 Jorge González 2019 Carmen Barros 2020 Eduardo Gatti 2021 José Alfredo Fuentes 2022 Ginette Acevedo and Julio Zegers 2023 Myriam Hernández and La Sonora de Tommy Rey

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF WorldCat National Spain Artists MusicBrainz

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cecilia Pantoja](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecilia_Pantoja) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecilia_Pantoja?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.