Early life
Lissette was born in 1949 in
Lima,
Peru, at a time when her parents, Cuban
TV stars
Olga Chorens and
Tony Alvarez (
Olga y Tony
) were touring
South America. Lissette made her first recording, the children's song "
El Ratoncito Miguel", along with her parents when she was just
5 years old. (The song eventually became a hit.) The family lived in
Havana.
She and her sister were sent to live in the
United States in the early 1960s through
Operation Peter Pan, a US government sponsored program in conjunction with the
Catholic Welfare Bureau that transported 14,000 Cuban children from Cuba to the United States. The scheme was devised for families opposed to the
Cuban revolution of 1959, who feared that the government would indoctrinate their children into
communism.
After 3 years in the US, she and her sister were reunited with their parents in
Miami and the whole family moved to
Puerto Rico.
Career
Lissette started her career in
Puerto Rico as an adolescent, then later moved to
Miami. She hosted her own shows in the
Telemundo network in Puerto Rico for several years and did
Emmy Award winning TV specials at Channel 10 and Channel 4 in
Miami, Florida. Lissette had a successful recording career having more than 30 albums including 8
gold albums and 2
platinum albums. Lissette is an accomplished
singer and
songwriter that has produced most of her albums. She has received countless awards during her singing career, including a
UNICEF award for her
humanitarian work with children.
In
Latin America, she is known as: "an interpreter of romantic songs influenced by the
ballad" (Cuban Music from A to Z, page 12).
Family
She was first married to singer
Chucho Avellanet. Together, they hosted
El Show de Chucho y Lissette
on
Telemundo. Lissette is presently married to
Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter
Willy Chirino. They reside in
Miami.
Support for democracy in Cuba
Lissette has supported
Yo No Coopero Con La Dictadura (
English:
I Do Not Cooperate with the Dictatorship).
[1]
References
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