Lorenzo Santamaría!
Or Llorenç. At first he had to call each other in Spanish.
What year was that beginning?
Early 60s.
Have you been singing for 60 years?
Yes, and now I’m leaving.
Because?
I still master my voice and I’m in shape on stage. I won’t leave a bad memory.
When do you say goodbye?
With concerts in several cities.
‘So you do not forget me’…
I’ll sing it! That’s how I title my latest album.
I heard that song a lot, as a child.
It was my great success, as was If you were my wife…
…“if you wanted, everything would be different, in another way…”.
You heard it too, huh?
Very singable in karaoke, eternal.
I sang while I worked, when I was young.
What did you work on?
In my uncle’s carpentry shop in my town. I loved the smell of wood! I still like it… “You will be a singer,” my uncle told me.
Well, he was right.
We were poor, we had to work: I worked in a hair salon, I handed out sodas freely, and chocolates, records…
And music?
In 1960 I heard an Elvis Presley song on the radio. That rhythm was something else… It opened me to the world! I started singing covers in two of my cousins’ groups, Balihai and Chelines, then in Fugitivos…
And he sang with Jimmy Hendrix, they say…
I met him one night, we talked… just enough: we were both very introverted.
How was that?
The instrumental soul group Z66 arrived in Palma and needed a singer. And they caught me, we performed in Gomila Square, in the Toltec, Sargent Pepper rooms… Jimmy Hendrix appeared there. His music marked us. He saw his trunk with seven guitars.
Did they match?
He played a blues and I was his opening act.
And you were on TV, I saw you.
With Z66 we covered Nights of White Satin and performed at TVE’s Miramar studios, in Montjuïc, in Barcelona.
Others of the time: Bruno Lomas, Mochi, Braulio, Camilo Sesto, Miguel Ríos…
Only Miguel Ríos and I were left. We had never sung together and this summer we hugged and sang.
Did you flirt a lot in your glory years?
They flirted with me. I married Núria, and we are still very much in love.
He was an actor too, right?
In eight films, one shared with the great José Luis López Vázquez, Crónica sentimental en rojo.
Without stopping singing?
I sang and liked it, and Alfredo Fraile, my manager and Julio Iglesias’ manager, wanted to settle us in Miami, but I refused.
Why did he refuse?
I need Mallorca, which will be my grave. I can’t live away from my roots. That’s why I refused to work on the musicals Jesus Christ Superstar or Evita.
Do you know Tomeu Penya?
I sang in his musical Illamar: I was the demon Cucarell. With Tomeu we eat often and we laugh about our things.
And here you are still, singing.
Success is not arriving, it is being there.
And haven’t you ever gotten tired of singing the same hits?
For a few years I stopped singing So that you don’t forget me. They always asked me for it… and I hate being forced to do anything.
Today he sings it again.
Yes, because now I am enjoying my repertoire like never before.
Does any of your songs move you more than the others when you sing them?
Coses des camp: it talks about my land, the countryside, the animals… When I sing it… I always get emotional and cry.
A real rocker like you!
My heart is a rocker, of course.
What is rock?
Lyrics that say things other than “I love you”, that go further and are accompanied by powerful music.
What things agitate you?
Hypocrisy and injustices. We no longer have protesting singer-songwriters.
What has been your peculiarity as a singer?
A personality, a charisma. Many singers sing very well today… but they all look too similar to each other.
Too much uniformity?
There are exceptions: Amaya, what a great version of Raphael’s Mi gran noche did at the Goya! And I am a fan of Albert Pla, by the way. And how well he acts in The Messiah.
What advice would you give from here to a young person who is starting to sing?
Always be yourself and you will never regret anything.
