Cecilia (Spanish singer)

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Evangelina Sobredo Galanes, known as Cecilia, (October 11, 1948 – August 2, 1976) was a Spanish singer-songwriter. She took her stage name from the song "Cecilia" by Simon and Garfunkel.

Biography

The daughter of diplomats, she was born in Madrid, spent her childhood in several countries (Spain, The United Kingdom, The United States, Jordan, Portugal) and was raised by an American nun. She attained a bachelor's degree in law in Spain before deciding to dedicate herself to music and composition. Her ironic and lyrical songs, sung in a tiny voice, contributed to the existentialist and feminist movements of Spanish canción protesta (protest songs) of the 1960s and 1970s.

Career

Her first steps in the music field were with the group Expresión, featuring Nacho Saez de Tejada and Julio Seijas. She wrote and sang in English. This band only published a single in 1970. In 1971 she signed up a contract as a solo artist with CBS-Spain. Julio Seijas remained as a collaborative musician on Cecilia´s band. She tried to launch her career as 'Eva' but that name was already registered and in use by another Madrilenian artist. In those days, the CBS-Spain label had release Simon and Garfunkel´s hit "Cecilia" and Evangelina took on that stage name.

Cecilia

Cecilia, which is the name of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music, has been a consistently used name in the United States, where it has ranked among the top 500 names for girls for more than 100 years. It was the 274th most popular name for American girls born in 2007. It was the 317th most popular given name for women and girls in the United States census of 1990. It also ranked among the top 100 names for girls born in Sweden in the early years of the 21st century.

Feminine variant forms

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of tonality, rhythm, the use of sustained tones and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung without accompaniment or with accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in a group of other musicians, such as in a choir of singers with different voice ranges, or in an ensemble with instrumentalists, such as a rock group or baroque ensemble. Singers may also perform as soloist with accompaniment from a piano (as in art song and in some jazz styles) or with a symphony orchestra or big band. There are a range of different singing styles, including art music styles such as opera and Chinese opera, religious music styles such as Gospel, traditional music styles, world music, jazz, blues and popular music styles such as pop and rock.

Singing can be formal or informal, arranged or improvised. It may be done for religious devotion, as a hobby, as a source of pleasure, comfort, or ritual, as part of music education, or as a profession. Excellence in singing requires time, dedication, instruction, and regular practice. If practice is done on a regular basis then the sounds can become more clear and strong. Professional singers usually build their careers around one specific musical genre, such as classical or rock, although there are singers with crossover success (singing in more than one genre). They typically take voice training provided by voice teachers or vocal coaches throughout their careers.