Quick Facts
| Net Worth | Not Known |
| Salary | Not Known |
| Height | Not Known |
| Date of Birth | Not Known |
| Profession | Musicians |
Charo is a Spanish born American musician and guitarist who bears a very long name. (I bet you would bite your tongue trying to pronounce it). “Charo” is a coined name she cleverly chose to be called so that her fans, especially her English speaking fans will be comfortable in pronouncing her name. She cuts a controversial figure and her published age has not helped that either. It is suspected that Charo reduced her age as the stories she puts forward don’t always seem to add up. Read on for more information about this flamboyant TV star and actress.
Bio – Age, Ethnicity And Nationality
Charo was born in Murcia, Spain as María del Rosario Mercedes Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza. Her father is a lawyer and her mother was a stay-at-home mom. She has both Spanish and American nationalities and is of the Hispanic ethnicity. She was sent to the convent at a very young age, and her grandmother hired a private tutor to teach her how to play the guitar. When she was just nine years old, she had already mastered the instrument and left the convent following the advice of a nun who told her she belonged to the show business.
Controversy Surrounding Charo’s Birthdate
If you take the bold step of searching for the birthday of singer/actress Charo in any search engine, the results you will get may leave you more confused. This is because there is a lot of controversy surrounding the issue – including a court hearing! The actual birthdate of the Spanish and American guitarist has been a subject of debate with several celebrity websites posting divergent dates.
You may not be entirely wrong if you decide to pick any one of them because while Charo’s United States naturalization papers and original Spanish passport indicates that she was born on March 13, 1941, she claims that 1941 is not her correct birth year, citing 1947 and 1949 sometimes as the correct year and at other times, January 15, 1951. She claimed the latest after a court hearing in October 1977.
She told the courts (and provided sworn affidavits from her parents to back her claim) that her parents made her falsify her age so she could marry Xavier Cugat, her band leader at the time who was 66 years and had already been married to four different women while she was only 16. This makes her official birthdate to stand at January 15, 1951. But even at this, calculating her age would place her at 15 at the time, not 16. And also from her interviews, she has always claimed to have graduated from school at 16. So we are yet to unravel the mystery behind Charo’s birthdate.
Charo’s Singing and Acting Career
Charo has appeared in many TV shows such as The Tonight’s Show with , The Ed Sullivan Show, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, The Love Boat, Donny & Marie, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Brady Bunch, The Mike Douglas Show, Marblehead Manor, Las Vegas, just to mention a few. After the birth of her son in 1982, she made no appearance that caught the media’s attention until the 2000s. According to her, she decided to move to Hawaii with her family to raise their son.
However, she returned to the television scene with a special guest appearance in The Hollywood Square and The Surreal Life in 2004. She became the “Best Flamenco Guitarist” in Guitar Player Magazine readers poll twice in a row. She has also released many albums to her credit and they include; Cuchi-Cuchi (1977), Olé Olé (1978), Bailando con Charo (1981), Guitar Passion (1994), Gusto (1997), Charo and Guitar (2005).
Charo is known for how she dresses and plays the guitar on stage with her “Cuchi Cuchi” phrase that gained her popularity. Her Spanish accent and personality acted as a comic relief for her fans that saw her as a comedian. Years later, when asked what the “Cuchi Cuchi” phrase meant, she said it was the pet name of her childhood dog, Cuchillo. She said she used the name as a phrase because she couldn’t speak English fluently. She also learnt how to speak Japanese in Hawaii while raising her son because the place was heavily populated with people of Japanese ancestry.
How Much Is Charo Worth?
Her current net worth is estimated to be around $12 million. She is one of the oldest superstars in Hollywood and began her career at an early age. She has appeared in several TV shows and films and has also released several successful albums. The source of her net worth includes television, music, and film.
Family, Husband, Son
Charo has been married twice. At the age of 16, she got married to Xavier Cugat the leader of the band she played for. He discovered her talent and exposed her to the show business. They held a very grand wedding in 1966 and immediately moved to the United States. But in 1978, after she became a US citizen, filed for divorce from Xavier and married Kjell Rasten, her second husband the same year – August 11, 1978. She later claimed that her previous marriage – to Xavier – was just a means to get US citizenship.
Her second husband, Kjell Rasten is Swedish and is also an actor, a film producer and businessman. He is Charo’s manager and they have been married for four decades with a son together. Their son, Shel Rasten was born in 1982 and raised in the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Shel is an actor, producer and musician with the heavy metal band, Treazen. Although Shel is a grown man, he appears to have been pampered by his mother because he still lives very close to his parents and is often seen visiting their home.
Plastic Surgery and Body Measurements
The flamboyant singer has the perfect body shape. She has an hourglass figure with her body measurement as 97-66-91 cm. She weighs 58kg and is 5ft 4in tall with her ever curly blond hair. Charo is known for her charismatic personality and through the years hasn’t seemed to age at all. There are no wrinkles, fine lines, or any form of saggy skin found around her facial features. There have been speculations that she has had plastic surgery done over the years and although she has not confirmed them, pictures have done so.
Her first surgery was done when she was young and was to increase her breast size. Also, comparing her ‘before’ pictures and current ones, you will find that her lips also appear to be way fuller than it used to be. Charo has also under undergone the process of lifting her face. It is normal for women’s face to begin sagging at the age of 40 but her face still appears full and youthful which isn’t strange because facelifting is a popular procedure for older women in the entertainment industry. Her plastic surgeries have caused controversy among her fans as some do not like it because according to them, it makes her face appear swollen because of the excessive pumping of collagen while others argue she looks just fine to them.
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