Felicia Garza (born September 7, 1941, in San Antonio, Texas as Felipe Gil Jr.) [1] is a Mexican-American songwriter, musician, singer and actress. Starting her show-business career in 1961, Garza participated in movies and had a successful singing career that took her to places as far from Mexico and the United States as Argentina, where she lived at for two years from 1964 to 1966. [1]
In 2016, at the age of 74, Garza announced that she is transgender. [2]
Garza was born as Felipe Bojalil Garza in San Antonio, Texas, the daughter of singer Felipe Gil (Felipe Bojalil Gil) and of bolero singer Eva Garza. She was assigned male at birth. [3] When her mother was pregnant, she decided to move to San Antonio, Texas from New York City, so she could give birth to her child there, but at the age of six months old, she and her mother traveled to the Northeastern United States city, where Garza lived until she was 11 years old. [1]
Garza has declared that, in New York, she had a difficult relationship with her father, who was usually away due to his tours and his lifestyle as a famous singer. Garza self-identified as female from a young age and she once wore her mother's clothes aged 4, but her father caught her and beat her up, which caused her mother to make her promise that from then on, Garza would try to look more like her father instead. At age 11, Eva Garza took her children (Felicia as Felipe Jr. and Corina, Felicia's sister) and moved with them to Mexico because Eva Garza was under contract with the XEW radio station. Felipe Gil Sr. and Eva Garza soon divorced. [1] As a kid, Garza dreamed about building spaceships in the future, and she read a book written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. [3]
She returned to New York aged 15. At that same age, her father died one day when he fell asleep with a cigarette, causing a tragic fire. [1] Garza did not enjoy a good relationship with him, so she did not feel too affected by his passing. Garza, however, found religion in the form of a Christian church in New York; she eventually became a member of that church's choir. [3]
Garza struggled with her identity. During that era, she played on an American Football team, hoping that experience would shape her inner-self into the man that she thought those around her wanted her to be; but she kept personally suffering. [1] She also practiced boxing. [4]
Having become a gospel choir singer, Garza launched a musical career in 1961, using the pseudonym "Fabricio". [5] Garza was known artistically as Fabricio from 1961 to 1967, when she began performing as Felipe Gil. She released albums from 1967 to 2009 using the name Felipe Gil. She released, according to Discogs.com, 12 albums and singles, including two singles, (1969's "Que Te Pasa, Vida Mia?" and 1971's "Quiero Ser", not to be confused with Menudo's 1981 album and song of the same name) released for Capitol Records. [6]
During this time, she reached teen idol status in Mexico, additionally launching an acting career. The movies she starred in were named "Buenos Dias, Acapulco"("Good Morning, Acapulco") and "Baila, Mi Amor" ("Dance, my Love"). Her fame reached Argentina, and she moved there from 1964 to 1966, hosting a television show named "La Hora Ye Ye" ("The Ye Ye Hour") in that South American country. [4]
In 1967, she joined a musical comedy television show named Cómicos y Canciones, alongside others such as Capulina and Chespirito. That show lasted on the air until 1969. [3]
In 1966, her mother died in Tucson, Arizona, stricken by pneumonia during one of her mother's tours. [4]
She has won the prestigious Festival OTI three times as a composer: in 1973 for her composition "La Cancion del Hombre" ("Man's Song") sung by Gualberto Castro, in 1975 with "La Felicidad" ("Happiness") and in 1981 with "Lo Que Paso, Paso", sung at that festival by singer Yoshio. In 1975 also, she won the Puerto Rico International Voice and Song Festival (Festival Internacional de la Voz y la Cancion de Puerto Rico) with her composition "El Rio" ("The River") sung by Manoella Torres. [3]
In 2016, she came out as transgender. She announced that, due to her advanced age, she was not going to go through sexual reassignment surgery but live out as a woman instead. "i haven't used anything except hormonal replacement therapy, I'm not going to change entirely and become a transsexual, which is different from transgender; I am a man and a woman at the same time", she declared to the press. [7]
Her family had a hard time accepting her new identity; her nephew Marcos Valdés (son of comedian Manuel Valdés and of Garza's sister Corina) took on social media to declare his disapproval of his aunt's transgenderism by declaring that "I keep seeing my uncle as my uncle. Do his daughters see him as their father or their mother? (do I) see him as an uncle or aunt? He is my uncle, I love and admire him. I adore and respect him. Many say he looks better as a woman than he did as a man. (I hope everything) goes well for my uncle". [8]
On August 26, 2022, her daughter Dulce Maria Gil died at the age of 53 of multiple sclerosis. [9]
In 2021, she declared on a television show named "Sale el Sol" that she had suffered thrombophlebitis on the inner part of her left leg, which according to her, was due to her hormonal treatments. She suffered pain in the area, and was hospitalized a few days. [10]
Twice married, she considers herself a transbian. She has declared she hopes to find the love of a woman again in her life. [4] She has an unspecified number of daughters, [11] of whom, initially, only Dulce Maria accepted her transgenderness.
María Elena Velasco Fragoso was a Mexican actress, comedian, singer-songwriter and dancer. She is best known for creating and portraying La India María, a comical character based on indigenous Mexican women.
Anahí Giovanna Puente Portilla, known mononymously as Anahí, is a Mexican singer, songwriter and actress. In 1986, she started her acting career when she was cast on Chiquilladas. After working on many successful telenovelas produced by Televisa, including Alondra (1995), Vivo por Elena (1998), El Diario de Daniela (1998) and Mujeres Engañadas (1999), her first leading role was in Pedro Damián's production, Primer Amor... A Mil por Hora (2000). In 2003, she joined the cast in Clase 406. Anahí reached international success in 2004 after starring in Rebelde and being part of the twice-nominated for a Latin Grammy Award group RBD, who sold over 15 million records worldwide. In 2011, she starred in Dos Hogares, her last telenovela to date.
Dulce María Espinosa Saviñón, simply known as Dulce María, is a Mexican actress, songwriter, singer and author.
Alcanzar una estrella is a Mexican telenovela first broadcast on Canal de las Estrellas in 1990. Also broadcast in Latin America and on Univision in the United States, the telenovela tells the story of an introverted girl's infatuation with her teen idol. The leading roles were played by singers Mariana Garza and Eduardo Capetillo, ex-members of the Mexican pop band Timbiriche. The two also sang the theme songs, which were written by Ricardo Arjona. Arjona and other singers such as Patricia Manterola also made acting cameos. The story was produced by Luis de Llano, producer and manager of Timbiriche and Garibaldi, and written by actress Rita Macedo, de Llano's mother. Alcanzar una estrella turned out to be Macedo's last credit as an actress before she committed suicide in the mid-1990s.
Alfredo Bojalil Gil, also known by his nickname El güero, was a Mexican singer and the creator and principal founding member of the musical trio, Trio Los Panchos. As a member of Los Panchos, he was the third voice and player of the requinto, a small guitar which he invented, and is now a staple instrument.
Mi Gorda Bella is a Venezuelan telenovela created by Carolina Espada and produced by Radio Caracas Televisión in 2002. This telenovela lasted 178 episodes and was distributed internationally by RCTV International.
María Elena Enríquez Ruiz, known as Helena Rojo, was a Mexican actress and model.
Muchachitas como tú is a teen Mexican telenovela produced by Emilio Larrosa for Televisa in 2007. It is an adaption of the Mexican telenovela Muchachitas, also produced by Emilio Larrosa. It premiered on April 23, 2007 and ended on November 9, 2007.
Verano de amor is a Mexican telenovela produced by Televisa. It is a remake of a famous Argentine telenovela, Verano del 98, adapted for the Mexican audience. It premiered on February 9, 2009, and ended on July 24, 2009.
Miss XV, sometimes stylized as Miss 15, is a Mexican teen musical comedy-drama television series, it is loosely inspired on 1987 telenovela Quinceañera. Pedro Damián produced the series for Nickelodeon and Canal 5 in 2012.
Felipe Gil, also known by his nickname El Charro was a Mexican singer and songwriter of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. He was born in Misantla, Veracruz, in 1913, into a family of musicians and he studied the music of the area. He worked for a time with Álvaro Ancona and in 1936 they were joined by Jesús "Chucho" Navarro, forming the group El Charro Gil y Sus Caporales. In 1940 Ancona was replaced by Felipe's brother Alfredo Gil. They disbanded in 1944, when Chucho Navarro and Alfredo Gil left the group to form the Trío Los Panchos with Hernando Avilés.
"Detrás de Mi Ventana" is a Latin pop song by Mexican recording artist Yuri from her studio album Nueva Era (1993). The track was written by Guatemalan singer-songwriter Ricardo Arjona. It was released as the lead single in Latin America and the United States, peaking atop the Billboard's Latin Songs chart, becoming the third number-one song in the chart for the singer and the first for Arjona as a songwriter.
Destino (Destiny) is a Mexican telenovela produced by Maricarmen Marcos for Azteca. Paola Nuñez and Mauricio Islas star as the protagonists.
Tanto amor, is a Mexican telenovela produced by Rita Fusaro for El Trece. It is a remake of the Argentine telenovela Pasiones produced in 1988.
Simplemente María is a Mexican telenovela produced by Ignacio Sada for Televisa. Based on an original story by the Argentine writer Celia Alcántara. It is a remake of the Mexican telenovela Simplemente María, produced in 1989. The series originally aired from November 9, 2015, to May 1, 2016.
Mentir para vivir is a Mexican telenovela produced by Rosy Ocampo for Televisa. It aired on Canal de las Estrellas from June 3, 2013 to October 20, 2013.
Eva Garza was a Mexican-American singer and film actress who acquired international recognition in the 1940s and 1950s during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. She collaborated on live radio shows and films with some of the leading performers of her time, including Mexico's Agustín Lara. She was nicknamed "Sweetheart of the Americas".
Papá a toda madre is a Mexican comedy telenovela that premiered on Las Estrellas on 22 October 2017, and concluded on 11 March 2018. Produced for Televisa by Eduardo Meza. The telenovela revolves around four dads of different ages, who have a radical change in their lives by assuming their role as parents.
Jaime Francisco Garza Alardín, known professionally as Jaime Garza, was a Mexican actor.
Gina Romand was a Cuban-Mexican actress. At the time of her death she was one of the last stars from the Golden Age of Mexican cinema.