Outer sleeve in very good plus condition with minor wear. Slight record circling.
Inner, paper sleeve in fair condition given one corner crease.  
Record has been cleaned via Spin-Clean and test played. Plays great. Vinyl in very good condition.
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Charo And The Salsoul Orchestra – Cuchi-Cuchi

Label: Salsoul Records – SZS-5519, Salsoul Records – SZS 5519 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album Country: US Released: 1977 Genre: Latin, Funk / Soul Style: Disco, Bolero, Ballad

Tracklist

Hide Credits A1 Dance A Little Bit Closer Written-By – Vincent Montana, Jr. Written-By – Vincent Montana, Jr. 4:25 A2 Let's Spend The Night Together Written-By – Mick Jagger-Keith Richard* Written-By – Mick Jagger-Keith Richard* 4:20 A3 Borriquito Written-By – Pedro Calaf* Written-By – Pedro Calaf* 2:31 A4 More Of You Written-By – Janet Gugliuzza*, Ronnie James, Vincent Montana, Jr. Written-By – Janet Gugliuzza*, Ronnie James, Vincent Montana, Jr. 4:55 A5 El Reloj (The Clock) Written-By – Roberto Cantoral Garcia* Written-By – Roberto Cantoral Garcia* 3:05 B1 Speedy Gonzalez Written-By – B. Kaye*, D. Hill*, Ed Lee* Written-By – B. Kaye*, D. Hill*, Ed Lee* 2:44 B2 Cuchi-Cuchi Written-By – Ronnie Walker, Vincent Montana, Jr. Written-By – Ronnie Walker, Vincent Montana, Jr. 4:17 B3 Cookie Jar Written-By – Ralph Brauner, Steve Carpenter, Vincent Montana, Jr. Written-By – Ralph Brauner, Steve Carpenter, Vincent Montana, Jr. 2:29 B4 You're Just The Right Size Written-By – Vincent Montana, Jr. Written-By – Vincent Montana, Jr. 3:33 B5 Only You Written-By – Janet Gugliuzza*, Ronnie James, Vincent Montana, Jr. Written-By – Janet Gugliuzza*, Ronnie James, Vincent Montana, Jr. 3:35

Companies, etc.

• Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Salsoul Record Corp.
• Copyright © – Salsoul Record Corp.
• Recorded At – Sigma Sound Studios
• Mastered At – Sigma Sound Studios
• Mastered At – A&M Mastering Studios
• Manufactured By – Caytronics Corporation
• Distributed By – Caytronics Corporation
• Pressed By – Columbia Records Pressing Plant

Credits

• Alto Saxophone – John Bonnie
• Art Direction – Paula Bisacca
• Baritone Saxophone – Edward J. De Palma, Joseph R. Stefano, Michael Pedicine, Jr.*
• Bass – Gordon Edwards, Michael "Sugar Bear" Foreman*
• Cello – Larry Gold, Richard Amoroso, Romeo Di Stefano
• Congas, Bongos, Timbales – Crusher Bennett*, Carlos Martin, James Walker, Larry Washington, Peter "Choki" Quintero*
• Design – Karen Bernath
• Drums – Charles "77" Collins*, Earl Young
• Engineer [Recording] – Arthur Stoppe, Jim Gallagher, Ken Present*
• Executive Producer – Joe Cayre, Ken Cayre, Stan Cayre
• Flute [Piccolo] – Jack Faith
• French Horn – Jon "One And Only Lips" De Angelis*
• Guitar – Bobby "Electronic" Eli*, Danny Zeff, Ronnie "The Hawk" James*, TJ Tindall
• Keyboards – "Cotton" Kent*, Ron "Have Mercy" Kersey*
• Mastered By – Bernie Grundman
• Mixed By – Ken Present*
• Photography By – Steve Shapiro*
• Producer, Arranged By, Conductor, Mixed By, Bells, Marimba, Chimes, Percussion [Tympani, Vibraharp] – Vincent Montana, Jr.
• Synthesizer – Bill O'Brian*
• Technician [Recording] – Darrell Rogers, Jim Dougherty, Michael Tarsia, Peter Humphreys, Rocky Schnaars
• Trombone – Edward Cascarella, Fred C. Linge*, Richard Genovese, Robert Moore, Roger Di Lillo*
• Trumpet – Evan Solot, Joseph Cataldo, Louis Opalesky*, Rocco Bene
• Viola – Anthony Sinagoga, Davis Barnett, Julia Ann Di Gaetani*, Victoria Ann Matosich*
• Violin – Americus Mungiole*, Bertram Greenspan, Bridget Pumpolis Mitten, Charles Apollonia, Charles Parker, Christine Reeves, Diane Barnett, Don Renaldo, Emily E. Nicholl*, Florence Schwartz, Gov Hutchinson, Helen Kwalwasser, Joseph Bonaccorse, Lance Elbeck, Leonore Walaniuk, Patricia Gott, Peter Nocella*, Rudolph Malizia, Thomas Di Sarlo, Vito Kasiello*
• Vocals – Barbara Ingram, Carla Benson, Evette Benton

Notes

℗ © 1977 Salsoul Record Corporation
Printed in U.S.A. 
- Recorded at Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia 
- Mastered at A&M Mastering Labs, Los Angeles 
- Mixed at Sigma Sound Studios, Studios II, Philadelphia 
- Manufactured and Distributed by Caytronics Corporation

María Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza,[1][note 1] professionally known by her stage name Charo, is a Spanish-American actress, singer, comedian, and flamenco guitarist.

Charo began playing guitar at the age of nine and trained under the famed Andrés Segovia.[6][7] In 1966, she married 65-year-old bandleader Xavier Cugat and moved to the United States with him. In the late 1960s and 1970s, she became a ubiquitous presence on American television, frequently appearing as a guest star on series such as Laugh-In, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. She is known for her uninhibited and exuberant manner, vague age, heavy Spanish accent and the catchphrase "cuchi-cuchi."

As a musician, Charo has performed and recorded in various styles for five decades. She released a series of disco recordings in the 1970s with Salsoul Records, most notably Dance a Little Bit Closer (1977). In 1995, her flamenco album Guitar Passion (1994) won the Female Pop Album of the Year award at the BillboardInternational Latin Music Conference and was named best female Latin pop album by Billboard.[2][8] In an interview, she said, "Around the world I am known as a great musician. But in America I am known as the cuchi-cuchi girl. That’s okay, because cuchi-cuchi has taken me all the way to the bank."[8]

Contents

• 1Early life
  • 1.1Birth year controversy
• 2Career
  • 2.11970s
  • 2.21980s
  • 2.31990s
  • 2.42000s
• 3Personal life
• 4Discography
  • 4.1Albums
  • 4.2Singles
• 5Filmography
• 6Television
• 7See also
• 8Notes
• 9References
• 10External links

Early life[edit]

Charo was born in the city of Murcia, Spain.[1] Her birth date has been a matter of some dispute but is thought to be January 15, 1951.[3] Her Spanish passport gives her name as María del Rosario Mercedes Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza.[3][note 1]

Charo has occasionally claimed that she was enrolled in a convent as a young child and remained there until she was 15, when a nun told her that she belonged in show business.[9] In the most colorful version of her childhood, Charo's grandmother hired a music professor to give her weekly classical guitar lessons, and he became the first man to enter the convent.[10]

In a 2005 interview, she reminisced: 

"The institution had great young teachers and students. Everything was a charity. Mr. Segovia, between concerts that's when he'd come, and if you'd been there a year and you weren't good, you'd go out and they would give your place to another young kid."[11]

Charo has stated in several interviews that she graduated with honors at age 16.[12][7]

She was discovered as a young performer by bandleader Xavier Cugat, whom she later wed on August 7, 1966. When they married, Cugat was 66 and had already been married four times (to Rita Montaner, Carmen Castillo, Lorraine Allen and Abbe Lane), although reports sometimes listed fewer marriages. An April 1966 column by Earl Wilson on the couple's wedding plans announced: 

"Sixty-year-old Xavier Cugat and his 20-year-old Spanish girlfriend and singing star Charo hope to marry in San Cugat, Spain, in a few days if Cugat can convince church authorities his two divorces should not be counted against him since he wasn't married in church."[13]

They were the first couple to be wed at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Charo later claimed that her marriage to Cugat was merely a business contract, a way for him to legally bring her to the United States, where he was based.[14]

Birth year controversy[edit]

Charo's year of birth has been the subject of dispute for many years. Official documents in her birthplace of Murcia, including her original Spanish birth certificate and passport, as well as her American naturalization papers, state that her birth date is March 13, 1941. After immigrating to the United States, she said that she was born in 1947, then changed it to 1949.[15] In her final change, she asserted in a 1977 court hearing that her passport and naturalization papers were wrong and that her birthdate was January 15, 1951.[3]

After Cugat "discovered" her while in Spain filming a television special in 1964[16] numerous newspaper articles stated that Charo was 17-years old at the time, which would have had her born in 1947.[17]

She has said in interviews that her parents allowed her to falsify her age to appear older when marrying 66-year-old Cugat in 1966, although according to her later claims, that would have made her 15 at the time. However, she has stated in many interviews that she was attending school in Madrid at that age and graduated at 16, not yet having begun her performing career. She has never clarified the discrepancy.[18][13] Numerous articles and interviews published shortly before and at the time of her wedding placed her birth year between 1945 and 1946. In 1964, Charo was referred to as Cugat's "18-year-old protégée."[19] An April 1966 column on the wedding plans stated that she was 20 and Cugat was 60.[20] Many sources identified her as 21 on the day of her wedding.[21][22][23]

In October 1977,[24] the same year in which Charo filed for divorce from Cugat and became a naturalized American citizen, judge Roger Foley in Las Vegas adjudicated the 1951 birth year to be official. Charo provided sworn affidavits from her parents in support of her claim,[25][26] although the claim has been viewed with skepticism.[8][27] Commenting on the disputes over her age, she has said that the public's disbelief could prove advantageous: 

"But if people really believe I'm older, that's fine. Don't be surprised if I come out with my own cosmetics, a new energy bar, and maybe some vitamins."[13]

Career[edit]

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Charo's first American television appearance was on The Today Show. From 1965 to 1967, she performed on The Ed Sullivan Show four times with Cugat and his orchestra. She began appearing on Laugh-In in 1968, appearing in segments lasting a few minutes near the end of each episode with Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. Her almost complete lack of fluency in English was played as a comic focus, with the two hosts laughing at her mangled syntax and pronunciation. It was around this time that she began using "cuchi-cuchi" in the public arena.

1970s[edit]

In 1977, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States. That year, she filed for divorce from Cugat, which was granted on April 14, 1978.[28]

On August 11, 1978, she married her second husband, producer Kjell Rasten, in South Lake Tahoe, California, in a civil ceremony attended by 30 guests.[29] He soon became her manager. They have one child, son Shel Rasten (born 1981),[30] who is the drummer for the heavy metal band Treazen.

Charo was highly visible throughout the 1970s, appearing eight times on The Love Boat, and on variety and talk shows such as Donny & Marie,[31] Tony Orlando and Dawn,[32] The Captain and Tennille,[33] The John Davidson Show, The Mike Douglas Show (which she guest-hosted at least once)[34] and the short-lived The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.[35]

In 1975, Dallas Morning News critic Harry Bowman wrote that the ABC network had "penciled in . . . a half-hour comedy starring the uninhibited wife of Xavier Cugat" and commented, "This is probably the worst idea of the season."[36] By October of that year, Charo was promoting a TV special slated for November,[37] but it did not actually appear until May 1976.[38][39]

A TV listing for August 24, 1976 shows what appears to be an unsold pilot airing on ABC at 8:30 p.m. CST: "Charo and the Sergeant—Situation comedy starring Charo Cugat. Charo's first U.S. job is to be a dancer at an off-limits nightclub, and her conservative Marine Corps husband finds out. The few episodes that were taped ended up being broadcast on the American Armed Forces Network overseas."[40]

By the late 1970s, Charo was being mentioned as an example of how overexposure could damage a celebrity. One such article quoted the "Q score" of Performer Q, Steve Levitt's celebrity popularity rating service, to show that her popularity declined slightly even as her familiarity increased:

Before she gained national fame on talk shows in 1975, bosomy Latina starlet Charo was 'recognized' by 57 percent of Levitt's national television sample and had a 'popularity quotient' of 9 percent. Today, known by 80 percent, a figure as high as Clint Eastwood's 80 percent, Charo's popularity is 8 percent. 'If she was known by 100 percent of the world, chances are her popularity might go down to 7 or 6 percent,' Levitt says coolly. That paradox makes some performers think twice when invitations to talk shows come in.

— "The TV Talk Shows", The Washington Post July 14, 1977 (Style section, pg. B1)

1980s[edit]

In 1988, Charo appeared on Pee-Wee Herman's Christmas special, playing guitar and singing "Feliz Navidad."[41]

1990s[edit]

In 1994, Charo appeared with Jodi Benson (known mostly as Ariel in The Little Mermaid) as Thumbelina and played the villain role of Mrs. Dolores "Mama" Toad.

2000s[edit]

This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful.
Find sources: "Charo" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Charo performing in 2004

She was named Best Flamenco Guitarist in Guitar Player Magazine's readers' poll twice.[42]

Charo returned to the dance-music scene in June 2008 with the single "España Cañi," which was released through Universal Wave Records.[43]

In April 2010, Charo made a guest appearance on Dancing with the Stars. She appeared on Watch What Happens: Live on February 22, 2011, when she promoted a new song, "Sexy! Sexy!" In July 2011, Charo appeared as a celebrity guest judge on the fifth episode of RuPaul's Drag U, Season 2. In May 2013, she appeared on the final episode of Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. In June 2015, she appeared in an episode of Celebrity Wife Swap, where she swapped with former Love Boat costar Jill Whelan. The show prominently featured her husband-manager Kjell Rasten and her sister Carmen, who served as Charo's stylist.[44]

On March 1, 2017, Charo was revealed a contestant for Season 24 of Dancing with the Stars, paired with professional dancer Keo Motsepe.[45] On April 3, 2017, they were the second couple eliminated from the competition and finished in 11th place.

Personal life[edit]

Charo and her husband Kjell Rasten moved to Hawaii to raise their son. Because of the large number of people of Japanese descent there, Charo learned to speak Japanese.[46] They eventually moved back to Beverly Hills.[47]

Rasten died by suicide on February 18, 2019 at the age of 78. Charo publicly stated: 

"In recent years, his health began to decline and he developed a rare and horrible skin disease called bullous pemphigoid. He also became very depressed. That, along with the many medications he needed to take, became too much for him, and he ended his suffering."[47]