After the hangover from the historic jackpot won by Rafa Castaño, life goes on in Pasapalabra. A different life, without the presence of Orestes, who fought for El Rosco during 360 programs, and with two new contestants, Alejandra and Jorge. What does not change is the arrival of celebrities to the program presented by Roberto Leal to help the contenders to add seconds in their lockers through knowledge, reflexes and good humor. On this occasion, Alberto Vázquez, Ana García Lozano, Poty and Karina. Let’s get to know a little better who this latest guest is.
Deep down, Karina does not need any introduction, since this singer born in Jaén 77 years ago triumphed in the world of music of the 60s and 70s, giving voice to intergenerational hymns such as Searching in the trunk of memories, Las flechas of the love Romeo and Juliet, among other songs that are still hummed by millions of people today.
Karina’s real name is María Isabel Llaudes Santiago, a name that did not convince her first record company, which asked her to find a more commercial stage name. The artist Torrebruno during a meeting with the singer called her with the affectionate name of “carina”, “darling” in Italian. A name that her company liked very much, that she only had to change the letter c to k to create a musical phenomenon.
Before, at the age of 15, he moved to Madrid with his family and sought his fortune in the world of songs in various radio contests. In 1961, she starred in an advertisement for the Wynn’s brand, a job that allowed her to record her first song, Yellow Bikini. Just a year later, she participated in Escala en Hi-Fi, a music program on TVE that burst into the yeyé era.
The woman from Jaén began to stand out and the artistic representative Emilio Santamaría, Massiel’s father, became her manager. He soon signed his first record deal with Hispavox. His career began in a vertiginous way based on records and television. In 1963, already as Karina, she presented her first work, an EPS where songs like Puff and Tell appear, which she defended on the small screen shortly after, in the program Ráfagas Musicales.
From then on his first hits began to arrive: Pérez told me so, Muñeca de cera, Romeo y Julieta, Las flechas del amor, La fiesta, El baúl de los recuerdos… He also recorded with groups of the time such as Los Pekenikes , The Jaguars or The HH. In 1967 he published his first album in America. Karina was the yeye muse on both sides of the Atlantic.
Another important date in his career was 1971, when he represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest, storming second place in the contest with the song En un mundo nuevo. Her great performance in Dublin earned her the opportunity to shoot the film with the same title as the Eurovisual theme and which was based on her time at the festival.
Karina’s career continued until 1978, when the record company did not renew her contract and the singer packed her bags for Mexico.
Already in the 90s, Karina had a triumphant return with the play Endearing 60; Such was the success achieved that the show was transformed into a kind of concert, dubbed Mágicos 60, where artists such as Jeanette, Micky, Tony Ronald or Lorenzo Santamaria participated.
Karina continued to appear occasionally on the small screen in heart programs and magazines, although she had a stellar reappearance in 2003 when she won the contest Vivo cantando: los años dorados (Telecinco).
In recent years, especially since the pandemic, Karina is standing out as an influencer; her Instagram account accumulates more than 75,000 followers. Although she has acknowledged that she has gone through difficult economic times, she has said that she has no intention of selling the dress she wore at Eurovision, for which a collector offered her 30,000 euros. Her intention is to leave it to her daughters.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
