1908, December 27 – BIRTH OF SANTIAGO DEVIN

Singer (Capricorn) – as a young boy, his gruff boss would frequently scream at him “Santiago, paint, work or you will find yourself on the street”….indeed he was fortunate to have a  job as a car painter but instead of concentrating on the task at hand he would sing all day to the ire of his boss ..but alas, the boss grudgingly forgave the boy; the truth was that he admired his voice…Santiago Devincenzi was born to poor Italian immigrant parents and very early in life, had quit school to work to help support the family; almost as soon as he had started walking, he started singing, not always welcomed by his struggling, nervous father…his first audition was at the Radio Cultura where to his deep disappointment he heard the director say “go study and come back later when you are ready”….he continued painting cars and singing among the toxic fumes and dreaming…his first public performance was at “Nacional Cinema Theater”; when it was finally over, only the guitarist was paid…the next day he continued painting and singing and hoping…

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His first break came when Antonio Alfonso Roman, although not completely convinced, hired him for his orchestra; he helped him correct his technique and young Santiago began to win smiles and nods of approval from the public… he would later work with noted orchestras like those of Juan Carlos Cobian, Julio De Caro and the legendary Carlos Di Sarli…he then launched himself as a soloist and was successful in the best cafes and cinema theater of his day; he was to do some of his best work during a stint with the Sureda Trio…it is recounted that Carlos Gardel had once said of him “during my last tour of the province of Buenos Aires, I worked with a half-filled room in the cinema theaters and the kid Devin with Sureda stole me the public”…at the point of his career when things were finally coming together for him, he began to have symptoms of  a strange illness, perhaps connected with the toxic fumes he had breathed as a car painter; he passed away suddenly at the age of 42

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• CLICK HERE – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPdFMIKY27Y to hear Santiago Devin sing “Cicatrices” with the Carlos Di Sarli Orchestra…the music was composed by Adolfo Aviles with lyrics by Enrique Maroni

2010

12/27

CATEGORY

Capricorn

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