Chiquetete, who popularized flamenco, leaves

The flamenco singer Antonio Cortés Pantoja, “Chiquetete”, cousin of Pantoja, who was the performer of his specialty who sold the most albums in the last third of the century, died yesterday at the age of 70 due to the heart problems he suffered and which had been intervened on several occasions in recent years. Chiquetete (Algeciras, 1948) will be remembered above all for being the first singer who managed to put a song at the top of the “Los 40 Principales” list. Today he will be fired with a funeral at the Gypsy sanctuary in Seville.

Antonio José Cortés Pantoja, son of Manuela Pantoja Cortés, was born in Algeciras (Cádiz), although his family soon moved their residence to Seville when he was 8 years old. At the age of 12 he began in the artistic world as part of the group “Los Algecireños” (later called “Los Gitanillos del Tardón”), along with Manuel Molina Jiménez and Manolo Domínguez, “El Rubio”. At that time he adopted the stage name of his maternal uncle and father of the artist Isabel Pantoja, Juan Pantoja Cortés, who had formed the flamenco group “Trío de los Gaditanos”. Alternating his career with the trio with performances at different festivals, in 1976 he won the “Mairena del Alcor” award. After that he began his solo career with the recording of the LP “Triana awake” with Paco Cepero and Enrique de Melchor. For a few years he continued as a flamenco singer until in 1980, with his LP “Altozano”, he turned his career around and entered a genre of romantic ballads with flamenco influence. The second LP of this stage, “Tú y yo”, from 1981, still contained traditional rhythms such as bulerías, fandangos or soleares. In 1988 he released “Sevilla sin tu amor”, which contained one of his biggest hits, the Sevillian “A la Puerta de Toledo”. A year later he published “Canalla”, with songs composed by Juan Pardo.

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In 2004 he published “Como la tide”, with musical production by his son Fran Cortés, one of the three (along with the eldest, Antonio, and a daughter, Rocío) that he had from his marriage to his first wife, the dancer Amparo Cazalla. Blackberry. From his second marriage, with Raquel Bollo, he had two other children (Manuel Álvaro and Alma). Separated again, he was united with Carmen Álvarez Gahona. His last work was “The Magic of a Voice”, published in 2017.