Alicia Granados

Spanish singer Alicia Granados hit the big time in 1966 after winning the Benidorm song festival at the age of just 12. However, despite their quality, her follow ups failed and her career lost momentum. She would have to wait until the 1970s when, after teaming up with vocal group Nubes Grises, she found more lasting success.

Alicia Granados was born Amparo Granados Navarrete on 29 May 1954 in Manresa, in Catalonia, Spain.

She came from a musical family – the nationalist composer Enrique Granados was a distant relation – and her parents enrolled her in a conservatory at the age of six.

This led to appearances in various local radio contests, and in 1964, aged ten, she landed her first recording contract. Signed to EMI’s Regal subsidiary, the young singer took the stage name Alicia for her debut release, an EP called El jilguero del Monte. Her youthful charm passed record buyers by at the time but now delights fans of the genre. Batiendo palmas and Alicia es así, in particular, have enjoyed a lasting popularity.

The record’s lack of success saw Alicia part ways with Regal, but in 1966 she signed a new record deal, this time with Belter. Label bosses were debating how to launch the singer when they were asked to provide a singer for a song penned by Jorge Domingo, Nocturno. The track had been entered into the Benidorm song festival, where – as at Italy’s San Remo contest – it was to be performed by two artists. Given that the tune was very much in the style of Italian teen star Gigliola Cinquetti’s Eurovision-winning Non ho l’età, Belter bosses thought immediately of Alicia, or Alicia Granados, as she was now known. (Columbia, meanwhile, opted for established male singer Santy.)

Alicia’s performance captivated judges at the contest and the song romped to victory. Issued as a single, her version of the song soon sailed to the top of the charts, beating Santy’s by a long chalk.

Sales were also helped by a very strong B-side, Profesor. “Teacher, you don’t know it, but you’ve made such an impression on me that you’ve made my heart suffer from tachycardia,” Alicia sang. The song proved just as popular as the A-side and Belter swiftly issued an EP with it as the lead track. New material comprised the equally upbeat Juguete extraordinario and the yé-yé gem Rubia, rubia.

The move suited Alicia, who hadn’t cared for Nocturno and liked the comparisons with Gigliola Cinquetti even less. This may have proved her downfall, however. Italian-style ballads were hugely popular in Spain at the time and, arguably, Alicia could have built a successful career catering to this demand.