Monna Bell

In the mid 1950s Monna Bell was barely in her teens when she took part in a talent-search contest held at Radio Minerias, then Chile's most popular radio station. Her voice and style won over the listeners and she became a regular at the station's live music shows. She was praised by her ability to sing both romantic ballads and swinging jazz tunes and blues, rare qualities in a Latin artist. Sometime in 1956 she was asked by prestigious band leader Roberto Inglez to join his group as a vocalist for a 3-week stint at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Miss Bell and the band had such a success that they stayed for a whole year in the Big Apple. From there they toured Europe but in Madrid the young vocalist decided to go solo after receiving an attractive offer from that city's best night club "Pasapoga". Monna Bell at the Pasapoga was a huge success and she became a favorite of Spanish audiences. By 1959 she was recording for Hispavox a repertoire of romantic songs which included a cover of The Platter's "My Prayer" ("Rogar"), the theme song from the Hollywood film "Anastasia" and a Spanish version of "Woman in Love" ("Una Mujer Enamorada") from "Guys and Dolls." That same year she was invited to appear at the "First Song Festival" held at Benidorm, a beach resort in Alicante, Spain and her rendition of a jazzy novelty tune titled "Un Telegrama" made quite sensation winning the top award. Her recording of "Un Telegrama" became an international hit both in Europe and Latin American making Monna Bell a top recording artist. From then on it was hit after hit for the vocalist including "La Montaña," "Silencio Corazón," "Aun Te Sigo Amando," "Envidia," "Tómbola" and many others which spread her fame all over the world. She recorded with orchestras led by top musicians such as Augusto Algueró Jr., Gregorio García Segura and Bebo Valdés. Monna Bell combined her recording activities with live performances and television work. Between 1962 and 1964 Mexican film producers featured her in three films just to take advantage of her popularity as a singer. Around this time she settled in Mexico and married cinematographer Alex Phillips Jr. The marriage did not last long but it produced a daughter and a son. Monna's reputation as a hit maker followed her for many years and in 1968 she left the Hispavox label and signed with Mexico's Musart. However, the Musart sessions relayed heavily on Spanish covers of American and British hits and although these assured her air play on Spanish language radio stations everywhere, the excitement of the first years was gone. In the 1970s she left Musart and signed with Orfeon where mediocre material, bad arrangements and worst production values sabotaged her career. Not even the dismal 1977 disco-version of her "Un Telegrama" mega-hit could revive the popularity of one of the most gifted songbirds in Latin music history. There were also rumors of blacklisting by Televisa, a monopoly which, at that time, extended its influence on Mexican television, radio, recording, night clubs, printed press, etc. In the 1980s it seemed her career had run out of steam and Miss Bell was reported as "living happily in retirement enjoying the fruits of her labors". She was quickly forgotten by both the public and the music industry ignoring the facts that she had one of the greatest voices of the century and had served as inspiration to a whole new generation of vocalists and songwriters. Among these was the top Mexican singer and composer Juan Gabriel who tried to remedy the situation by luring Miss Bell out of retirement to appear as a guest star in some of his shows, both in Latin countries and in the United States. He even built a guest villa for Monna in his huge living compound in New Mexico so that she could vacation there whenever she felt like it. The relationship became an enduring friendship and offered the promise of a grand return for Monna Bell but it never happened. In 1993 Miss Bell recorded for Sony "Monna Bell Ahora," an album composed and produced by Juan Gabriel which went into oblivion as soon as released. Juan Gabriel blamed Sony for failing to promote the album properly but critics pointed out that the selection of songs was the main culprit in this debacle. One critic wrote: "Miss Bell's voice is as great as ever and her interpretation retains the genius that made her a legendary vocalist but there's not much she, or anyone else, can do with this boring material." Another fact that compromised Miss Bell's legacy and possible discovery by new generations was the dismal absence of her greatest recordings in record catalogs and radio stations. Executives at Hispavox (Spain) and Musart (Mexico) seemed totally ignorant of Monna Bell's place in Latin music history and consequently have no clue on how to market her product properly. The hopes for a true artistic return vanished on April 21, 2008. While recovering from a successful colon cancer surgery, Monna Bell died of cerebral hemorrhage at a hospital in Tijuana where she was residing to be close to her daughter and grandchildren.