In 2004, a Spanish Television program chose the favorite songs of the Basques. First appeared ‘Cien gaviotas’, by Duncan Dhu, followed by ‘Libertad sin ira’ by Jarcha and ‘Libre’ by Nino Bravo. It is curious that the voters, between the ages of 18 and 29, chose a hymn by the Valencian artist, who by then had been dead for more than 30 years. Half a century after his disappearance, the singer of ‘América, América’ and ‘Un beso y una flor’ remains embedded in the sentimental memory of several generations, from those who knew him alive to those who enjoy him in karaoke, unable to emulate his voice jet.
It is ten o’clock in the morning on April 16, 1973. The white BMW 2800 driven by Nino Bravo faces a curve with a change in grade on the N-III as it passes through the town of Villarrubio in Cuenca on the way to Madrid. The vehicle leaves the road and rolls over several times. Seriously injured, the Valencian artist died hours later in the Francisco Franco Health City, today the Gregorio Marañón Hospital. His three companions, the members of the Humo Duo, for whom he was going to produce his first album, and a guitarist manage to survive. Nino Bravo was 28 years old and 10,000 people attended his burial in the Valencia cemetery. Seven months later, Eva Ferri was born, the second of the daughters he had with Amparo Martínez.
Barely four years were enough for him to leave an indelible mark on Spanish popular song. From 1970 to 1973, the singer linked one success after another and was at least five times number one in Spain and Latin America. Julio Iglesias and Camilo Sesto also triumphed as balladeers, but neither has been able to boast the prodigious voice of the author of ‘Mi tierra’, between lyric and pop, who sold 14 million records. On Spotify, ‘Un beso y una flor’ accumulates almost 72 million reproductions. The artist enjoys 1.3 million monthly listeners on the platform.
Luis Manuel Ferris Llopis was born on August 3, 1944 in Aielo de Malferit, Valencia. At the age of 16, he began working as an apprentice in a jewelry store and at night he moonlighted in a restaurant. At the age of 17, he sings in Los Hispánicos, a trio that became a finalist in a national radio contest. Two years later he enters as a substitute for the soloist in Los Superson, a group where he cultivated pop and romantic music until in 1966 when he had to do military service in Cartagena.
On March 16, 1969, Manuel Ferri Llopis, in a white elephant-leg suit and shoes of the same colour, made his solo debut as Nino Bravo at the Principal theater in Valencia, during Fallas. According to his representative, Miguel Siurán, Nino was in honor of the composer Nino Rota; the last name came after the manager blurted out a “bravo, nano!” to a man who intervened in a Valencian joint in favor of a prostitute with whom three sailors were arguing.
Nino Bravo at the birth of the first of the two daughters he had with Amparo Martínez.
He signs a contract with the Fonogram record company and performs songs written by Manuel Alejandro, Raphael’s usual composer, which receive a lukewarm response. The singer appears at the Spanish Song Festival with ‘Esa será mi casa’, but Julio Iglesias knocks him out with ‘Gwendolyne’. 1970 is his triumphant year. ‘I love you, I love you’, a song that Augusto Algueró composed for Lola Flores and Raphael, reaches number one and serves as a preview of his first LP.
unfulfilled dreams
He only had time to release five albums, the third of them, ‘Un beso y una flor’, with a careful production and immortal songs like ‘Cartas amarillas’ and ‘Noelia’, a name that the civil registries had had enough of registering in the later years. The fourth LP, ‘Mi tierra’, includes one of his most versioned songs, ‘Libre’, whose lyrics have always been thought to speak of the second death for trying to jump the Berlin Wall, although his biographer, Darío Ledesma, refutes it and He assures that he vindicates the prisoners of the Pinochet dictatorship. The single from ‘América, América’ and the fifth album are published posthumously, when the country mourns an artist full of unfulfilled dreams. Like that nightclub in Valencia set in Jules Verne’s books, from which to publicize local talent, or the imminent conquest of non-Spanish-speaking markets.
Records of duets, a musical, an endless number of versions and, of course, its obligatory inclusion in any self-respecting karaoke have kept the singer’s art alive for half a century. The Valencian Community has declared 2023 the Year of Nino Bravo and celebrates exhibitions and concerts in his honor during the month of April. A museum in his hometown reopens next week with gold records, trophies and costumes from his most illustrious son.
Nobody knows how far an artist who was not known for a scandal and who demonstrated his ambition would have gone by producing other musicians and creating a recording studio in his beloved Valencia. His legacy is a handful of glorious songs impossible not to hum: «I will finally leave my land. I will leave my fields and I will go away from here…».