The singer Lía Crucet He died this Thursday, at 72, as confirmed THE NATION. The artist, who since her emergence on stage towards the end of the 80s became a reference for the tropical scene, was hospitalized in the city of Mar del Plata and had been diagnosed with bronchopulmonary cancer.
“I love you forever,” wrote her daughter Karina on her Instagram account, along with a photo in which she can be seen with her mother. In the last few hours, the woman – who also developed a career as a singer – had traveled to be able to accompany the cumbia star during his hospitalization, after his condition noticeably deteriorated. “Wait for me,” he wrote, giving an account of the pressing situation that Crucet was going through.
The health of the interpreter of “La güera Salomé” and “En tu pelo” has generated concern for a long time. In 2012 she had uterine cancer and underwent successful treatment. In 2021, he shared a video on his Twitter account from his admission to a psychiatric clinic in which, looking at the camera, he said: “Very soon I will be with all of you, I am fighting it and I am going to get out of this.” It was later confirmed that he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. and that she was admitted to a nursing home in Mar del Plata. “I had no other alternative. It was the recommendation that the psychiatrist gave me, because there is no return to this,” said her husband and representative. Tony Salatino.
His daughter Karina did not coincide with the panorama of her mother’s health that Salatino made known to the media, in another example of the differences that she maintained, since her childhood, with the man with whom the interpreter of the tropical scene had chosen to share his days.
The truth is that from the moment she was hospitalized, Crucet stayed away from the public eye and social networks. Her last publication on Instagram dated March 30, 2024, with a photo that she took with her friend Gladys “La Bomba Tucumana” who, as it could be seen, had gone to visit her at her hospital.
Crucet, whose real name was Delia, was born on August 8 in the Buenos Aires town of Gerli. Her beginnings in the world of entertainment were at the behest of her parents, who saw her as a star, and occurred very far from the universe of music in which she would end up establishing herself.
Her height, her bearing and her lush curves helped her get a place as a star at a time when the Buenos Aires magazine aroused passions and turned beautiful women into icons desired by an entire country. In that role, he shared the stage with the greats of the time: Alberto Olmedo, José Marrone, Jorge Porcel, Adolfo Stray, Moria Casán, Dringue Farías, Patricia Dal, Vicente Rubino, Alfredo Barbieri, Adriana Aguirre, Zulma Faiad, Osvaldo Pacheco, Carlos Scazziotta, Camila Perissé, Enrique Pinti, Nito Artaza and Jorge Corona, among them.
Lía Crucet began working in magazine theater
Precisely, it was Corona who “baptized” her with a nickname that accompanied her until Lía began her musical career and decided to get it off her back. One night, in End of humorthe remembered Channel 9 series, the comedian noticed the star, who was sitting among the special guests, and began to call her, without any subtlety, “La Tetamanti.” Far from being horrified, Crucet laughed at the occurrence and adopted that picaresque nickname for a time.
Cinema further amplified his monumental figure and his fame. In 1988 she starred, along with Corona, Guillermo Francella, Beatriz Salomón, Silvia Peyrou and the current girlfriend of President Javier Milei, Amalia “Yuyito” González, in the film Relax Paradise (Massage House)one of the many picaresque comedies of the time. Then, in 1995, Lucrecia Martel chose her to direct the short film Dead Kingwhich was part of the compilation titled short stories.
A year later, he was part of the historical film Gauchito Gil, the innocent blood, by Ricardo Bacher and Tomás Larrinaga. His last foray into cinema was with Fito Páez in Whose garter belt is it?where he shared a cast with Duilio Marzio, Cristina Banegas, Lito Cruz, Roberto Fontanarrosa, Darío Grandinetti, Verónica Llinás, Romina Ricci, Julieta Cardinali and Leonora Balcarce.
At that point, he was already a cultural icon thanks to his successful musical career. At the end of the eighties, just a few years before cumbia stopped being considered a minor genre and became one of the most listened to and danced at parties of all social strata, Crucet decided that this would be his new destiny. . His first album, released by the Leader Music label, was titled I am not an abuserand was available on shelves in 1988. However, success came with The nightlifetheir second album.
Crucet with SandroHistoricas – Archive
The nineties had just begun and artists like Ricky Maravilla, Alcides and Gladys were already known and celebrated by an entire country. And Lía, with her hits “La güera Salomé” and “Qué bello” became, meteorically, another icon of the movement. Then came nine other studio albums, a dozen compilation albums and another ten shared with other artists.
Gladys was one of his great companions and one of the few people who remained in contact with Crucet until the end. Although they shared the reign of tropical music, they never competed and always had glowing words for each other. This Thursday, the interpreter of “La Pollera Amarillo” spoke with THE NATION and she was shocked by the news. “I am so sorry for your loss! So much! Many memories come to mind. Many television programs in which they always invited us together. Susana Giménez, Mirtha Legrand… A thousand shows in which we sang on the same stages and chatted a lot. We always respected and loved each other as colleagues. “Lía was great,” said the singer.
Despite her strong character, her frontality and her “few fleas,” Lía managed to stay away from major scandals throughout her career. But there was a situation in her family environment that would become one of the most talked about topics on gossip shows when it came to talking about her private life: the bad relationship between her daughter and her partner.
According to the criteria of