Manoella Torres 2
Manoella Torres, “the woman who was born to sing”, is an American singer and actress of Puerto Rican background based in Mexico who has had a long career that continues to this day. She has recorded over 350 songs by famous songwriters such as Armando Manzanero,Juan Carlos Calderón, Juan Gabriel, Manuel Alejandro and Rafael Pérez Botija to name a few. Gloria Torres Calderón was born on April 21, 1954 in New York City, United States of America. Her Puerto Rican parents Felicia Calderón and Jorge Torres had a total of six children, Gloria being the oldest one. She developed an affinity to singing since childhood and would sing for her family. Fighting alcoholism, Jorge Torres and his wife decided to separate and their children were sent to boarding schools while they worked out their problems. Gloria, on the other hand, moved to Mexico with her grandmother, Guadalupe Narváez, who was a frustrated singer herself and wanted to help her granddaughter’s dream come true. She encouraged her talent while Gloria idolized singers like Cuco Sánchez, Los Panchos and Lucha Villa. In Mexico she continued to study vocalization and years later met the man who would take her career to the next level, Alfredo Marcelo Gil. He became her manager and initially gave her the stage name “Gloria Gil”. She began making the rounds of musical events and television appearances where she met another important figure in her career, Armando Manzanero. Upon hearing her sing, he declared “Niñita, tú …