Cuban singer and actress Olga Chorens dies in Miami at the age of 99

The Cuban singer and actress Olga Chorens died this Friday afternoon at her home in Miami, at the age of 99. Her daughter Lisette Álvarez announced the news on her social networks, although she did not give details about the funeral of the artist, who left Cuba in 1963.

Born in Havana on February 7, 1924, Chorens starred alongside her husband, the announcer and presenter Tony Álvarez, starting in 1951, in a well-known live program on the CMQ-6 channel of Cuban Television. After the triumph of Fidel Castro’s revolution, they decided to go into exile, living in Mexico, Miami, New York, San Juan de Puerto Rico and Madrid.

Chorens and Álvarez defined important guidelines for shows radio and television that remain relevant to today’s producers. The format of his program was imitated not only on the Island during the following decades, but also internationally. The couple, who began a successful musical and showbiz career, recorded albums with RCA Victor and Panart.

Several years after Castro came to power, in 1963, the couple decided to send their daughters Lisette and Olga to the United States through the so-called Operation Peter Pan.

In addition, Chorens was linked to cinema and participated in the films Romance musicaldirected by Enrique Caparrós in 1941, and Cuba sings and dancesby Manuel de la Pedrosa, a decade later.

Several years after Castro came to power, in 1963, the couple decided to send their daughters Lisette and Olga to the United States through the so-called Operation Peter Pan. With the mediation of the Catholic Church, 14,000 Cuban children arrived on American soil. until he can reunite with his parents. The family met again in New York, after Chorens and Álvarez escaped from the Island through Mexico.

When her husband died in 2001, Chorens continued with her daughters the radio program that they had started in the 1980s on the Radio Mambí and La Poderosa stations. Her daughter Lisette married the popular Cuban singer Willy Chirino, who defined Chorens this Saturday as “a woman without a filter”, who was characterized by her sincerity. Chirino praised Chorens’ “impeccable career” and called her the “glory of Cuba” in a post on her social media.

In October 2008, Chorens supporters asked that South-West 35th Street in Miami be named Olga y Tony Avenue. In 2019, for her life’s work, the singer received the Libertad Prize, awarded by the Cuban Cultural Heritage organization.

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