Lucha Reyes (Peruvian singer)

Lucila J. Sarsines Reyes (July 19, 1936 – October 31, 1973), was a Peruvian performer and one of the most respected singers of her country, one of Peru's most famous Afro-Peruvian personalities as well as a symbol of Peruvian nationalism both in Peru and to expatriates.

Born to a poor family in the capital, Lima, Reyes was one of sixteen siblings. Her family lost their father Tobias Sarsines, who died after she turned six months old. Reyes spent much of her childhood living far from her family, and at a home with other members of her family. She would sell newspapers and lottery tickets to survive. The house she was living in was eventually burned, and she went on to live at a Catholic church.

As a child, Reyes would put on singing shows in front of families and friends, and it was at one of these shows that she met Pitito Perez, a famous Peruvian singer of the era. Perez liked her voice and invited her to join him in a duo. The duo was named Lucha y Juan. The duo would give Reyes the opportunity to be heard on national radio stations. Lucha Reyes debuted on radio in a show named El Sentir de los Barrios (or "The way the Barrio/People Feel") singing the cultural standard "Abandonada" of Sixto Carrera, a song with lyrics that many think resembled her own experiences on the streets.

Lucha Reyes lived a life much like the tragic and heart worn songs she sang. She married a policeman briefly and always refused to declare the reason her marriage lasted for such a short period of time. Later on, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and diabetes. Later in life, she joined the controversial music group Peña Ferrando of Augusto Ferrando (1919-1999), controversial because of the humiliating way in which the band leader treated the group's public.

Reyes acted sporadically in theater plays around Lima and would later go on to act in a movie named Una Carta al Cielo ("A Letter to Heaven") of Salvador Oda, about a boy whose dead mother (voiced-over by Reyes) would speak to him. It convinced Reyes she had a future in acting as well. Lucha performed in various acts, living on art in a Bohemian style, and produced music favored by the military nationalist government, who encouraged the diffusion of the Peruvian cultural expressions through mass media.

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