Josefa Flores González, known professionally as Marisol or Pepa Flores, is a retired Spanish singer and actress who was popular in Spain during the 1960s as a child and teen star.
Early life
Marisol was born Josefa Flores González on 4 February 1948 in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain. From early childhood, she demonstrated a love of singing and flamenco dance. In 1959 she was discovered by film producer Manuel José Goyanes Martínez, who saw her on television. Marisol became a sensation both in Spain and overseas.
Her passion for dance and music was transmitted by her grandmother Victoria. She was already a phenomenon of Coros y Danzas, the organization created by Franco to promote regional folklore. One of her first television performances was seen by Mari Carmen Goyanes, daughter of producer Manuel Goyanes, who convinced her father that the girl she had seen on television was the actress and singer they needed. The producer convinced Pepa Flores parents and finally signed an exclusive contract with them that made him a millionaire. The career of Marisol, her artistic name, had just begun. She was extremely popular in Spain and Latin America. She received dance, acting, declamation classes with the best teachers with the idea of making her the star of children's and youth cinema. From her first film Un rayo de luz a huge merchant produce was organized around the new star with books, dolls, cards and all kinds of objects with the image of the girl. Each film premier included a tour of Spain and Hispanic countries to promote it, with all kinds of events, creating tumults and crowds at the airports. Televisions, interviews and hundreds of photo shoots in addition to the film shootings prevented her from having a childhood like that of any other girl. Columbia Pictures wanted to buy the rights to Manuel Goyanes to continue exploiting her artistic career, but the producer rejected it.
As a singer
Marisol was a child star during the 1960s, entertaining high-ranking dignitaries. Director Luis Lucia Mingarro propelled her to national stardom in the film trilogyUn rayo de luz, Ha llegado un ángel and Tómbola. The films featured Marisol singing some of her best-known songs, "La vida es una tómbola", "Corre, corre, caballito", "Bambina", "Ola, Ola, Ola", "Estando contigo", "Chiquitina" and "Nueva melodía". In 1963 she starred in Marisol Rumbo a Río, where she played twins and sang "Bossanova junto a ti", "Muchachita", "¡Oh, Tony!" and "Guajiras". Marisol co-starred with Robert Conrad in the 1964 film La Nueva Cenicienta, in which she sang "Me conformo". Mel Ferrer directed her in Cabriola in 1965, where she sang "Cabriola", "¡Ay, vagabundo!", "Ya no me importas nada" and "Sevillanas", and went shopping in Paris with Audrey Hepburn. She appeared in Búscame esa chica with El Duo Dinámico. The film had biographical elements, featuring Marisol singing "Mi pequeña estrella", "Typical Spanish" and "Solo a Ti". She had a cameo in La historia de Bienvenido, a story about a donkey.
As an actress
In 1967, Marisol starred in the comedy Las cuatro bodas de Marisol, as the daughter of actress Isabel Garcés, and sang "La Boda ", "Johnny", "Belen, Belen", and "La Tarara". She appeared in :es:Solos los dos, where she sang "La nieve". She appeared in the unsuccessful Carola de día, Carola de noche. In 1969, Marisol appeared in the musical comedyEl taxi de los conflictos, where she sang "Corazón contento", a song composed by Argentine singer Palito Ortega. Marisol received the Best Actress prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for her role in Los Días del Pasado. Marisol also appeared in La corrupción de Chris Miller, directed by Juan Antonio Bardem ; La chica del Molino Rojo with Mel Ferrer, and El poder del deseo with Pilar Bardem. As an adult, Marisol changed her stage name to her given name, Pepa Flores. More recently, Marisol appeared in Carlos Saura's film Bodas de sangre, and in Carmen. She played the title role in the Spanish national television series Mariana Pineda in 1984, and was applauded for her lead role in the 1985's Caso Cerrado with Antonio Banderas.
Personal life
On 16 May 1969, Marisol married Carlos Goyanes Perojo, son of her producer. They separated in 1972. On 1973, she started a relationship with dancer Antonio Gades, and she has three daughters from him. María Esteve, the eldest, is an actress, and Celia Flores, the youngest, is a pop flamenco singer. After her divorce they married in 1982 in Cuba and their godparents were Fidel Castro and Alicia Alonso. They divorced on 1986, and Gades died in 2004. She was a sympathizer of the Spanish Communist Party, distancing herself from the party after her separation from Gades. Pepa Flores is retired, and lives with Massimo Stecchini, her partner since 1987, in Malaga, where she works for charitable causes. In the wake of the Me Too movement, the claims Marisol made to Francisco Umbral and Interviú in the late 1970s about the sexual abuse she underwent as a child star resurfaced in Spanish Vanity Fair in 2018.
