Maria Rosario Pilar Martinez Molina Baeza, better know by the single name "Charo," is a Spanish-born actress/comedienne who's recognized as a world-class flamenco guitarist who studied under the legendary Segovia.
Known for her flamboyant blond hair, provocative dress sense, and trademark phrase "cuchi-cuchi," she was first "discovered" by band leader Xavier Cugat, four decades her senior, who became her mentor and later her husband. They moved to the United States at some point in the '60s and the couple was actually the first to be married at Caesars Palace, which was just the start of Charo's connection to Las Vegas, where at first she performed as part of Cugat's band at venues including Caesars, the Flamingo, and the Riviera.
Following regular appearances on popular TV shows like "The Today Show," "The Love Boat," and Rowan and Martin's "Laugh-In," by 1971 Charo had landed her own solo headlining gig in the famed Congo Room at the Sahara and was said to be commanding fees as high as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Ray Charles. In 1977 she became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. and filed for divorce from her husband.
However, a combination of Charo's caricature ditzy-blond image (she played on her lack of fluency in English, for example) and over-exposure (and we're not referring to her cleavage) through multiple guest appearances in cheesy television series and chat shows, were attributed in large part to a decline in Charo's popularity and bankability, and following her remarriage and the birth of a son, she largely disappeared from the public eye and sometime around 1985* moved with her new family to Hawaii, where she performed at own dinner theater.
However, in 2001 the performer returned to her old Nevada stomping ground, where she starred in an original show called Bravo at what was then the also-new Venetian. The show carried a hefty price for back then of $48-$69 per ticket and didn't last long, but Charo soon bounced back, with a stint at her former home in the Congo Room at the Sahara. That didn't last long either, however, and in January 2003 she was to be found starring in Bravo at Sevilla in the former Desert Passage (now Miracle Mile Shops) at what was again, briefly, the Aladdin (now Planet Hollywood). The big multi-level Spanish-themed entertainment complex featured a Spanish/Cuban steakhouse, Latin nightclub, martini bar, private cigar lounge, balcony, and dinner show starring the female flamenco star.
The sad tale of the doomed-from-the-outset Aladdin and its uncomfortable relationship with Desert Passage is another story for another day, but suffice say that by June 2003, the LVA newsletter was reporting that "Charo's Bravo has been discontinued amid financial problems at Sevilla." You don't say.
Evidently intent on staying in Las Vegas, in 2009 Charo was to be found performing at the Riviera, where she opened July 10th with a nightly show called Charo in Concert: A Musical Sensation -- again with a hefty $60+-per-ticket price tag. By September, discounts were appearing in the freebie entertainment magazines around town, and then in September the show went on indefinite hiatus after the performer suffered an injury during the Jerry Lewis Telethon at South Point, for which she had performed a rendition of "Don't Stop the Music" by Rihanna.
The Riviera show never reopened but Charo, who lives in Beverly Hills, still performs annually in Las Vegas, with shows in recent years having taken place in the Showroom at South Point, either in August or September, so keep an eye on our Events calendar this fall for word of any upcoming dates. In addition to these fleeting but regular appearances in Las Vegas, other recent performances have included cruise-ship gigs, some live dates in San Francisco last summer, and a guest appearance teaching flamenco moves to Pamela Anderson on "Dancing with the Stars", among other things.
