Margarita Pracatan
{{Short description|Cuban musician (1931–2020)}}
Margarita Pracatan (born Margarita Figueroa; 11 June 1931 – 23 June 2020) was a Cuban-born novelty singer, who became well-known in the UK, during the 1990s, when she performed regularly on television on Saturday Night Clive hosted by Clive James''.
Biography
Margarita Figueroa was born in Santiago, Cuba. Her father was a union leader.{{cite news|title=Lastword: The Questionnaire: Margarita Pracatan|last=Greenstreet|first=Rosanna|work=The Guardian|date=May 3, 1997|page=T.065}} She began to sing at home when she was three years old. Her family fled to the U.S. after the Cuban revolution. She worked in a store selling men's underwear while singing at night.
She found success in the 1990s when she was booked on numerous occasions to appear on Clive James's television show in the UK, adopting the surname "Pracatan".{{cite news|title=whatever happened to... Margarita Pracatan|last=Kendall|first=Paul|work=The Sunday Telegraph|date=May 10, 2009|page=54}} James showed clips of her heavily Hispanic-inflected performances of pop hits (including Lionel Richie's "Hello" and "New York, New York") on his BBC series Saturday Night Clive. According to her website, Clive James discovered her on Manhattan public-access television cable TV program in 1994 and invited her to the UK to appear on his show. He sweet-talked her into believing he was serious, and she signed up. Although he never mocked her openly, his introductions to her end-of-show performances contained teasing irony. James once said of Pracatan, "She never lets the words or melody get in her way. She is us, without the fear of failure."
Pracatan toured regularly in the United Kingdom and Australia,{{Cite web|url=http://www.margarita.com.au/margarita-articles/1996/11/8/the-margarita-effect/|title=margarita.com.au|website=www.margarita.com.au|accessdate=Feb 22, 2025}} also appearing as part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival during the mid-1990s. Pracatan appeared in an episode of The Real Housewives of New York City in 2019, performing a cover version of Luann de Lesseps’s “Money Can’t Buy You Class”. Radio disc jockey Martin Kelner also played her frequently on his BBC Night Network and BBC Radio 2 programmes.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}
Pracatan died in New York in June 2020, aged 89.{{cite web |title=Cuban singer Margarita Pracatan dies at 89 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-53164140 |website=BBC News |accessdate=June 25, 2020 |date=24 June 2020}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.kennethinthe212.com/2020/06/margarita-pracatan-campy-cuban-singer.html|title=Margarita Pracatan, Campy Cuban Singer Who Found Success Later in Life, Dies at 89|first=Kenneth M.|last=Walsh|accessdate=Feb 22, 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/margarita-pracatan-death-age-cause-clive-james-show-itv-cuban-a9583236.html|title=Margarita Pracatan death: The Clive James Show singer dies aged 89|author=Louis Chilton|website=The Independent|date=24 June 2020|access-date=24 June 2020}} She was divorced with one daughter.
Discography
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |
| Year
! Title ! Label |
|---|
| 1996
| style="text-align:left;" | Live At The Palladium | RCA |
| 1996
| style="text-align:left;" | Hello (Maxi Single) | RCA |
| 2000
| style="text-align:left;" | Margarita Pracatan | IND |
| 2003
| style="text-align:left;" | The Best | IND |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Discogs artist|Margarita Pracatan}}
- [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0694904/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm Margarita Pracatan] on the IMDb
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pracatan, Margarita}}