Raquel Meller

Raquel Meller (9 March 1888 – 26 July 1962), born as Francisca Romana Marqués López, was a Spanish diseuse, cuplé, and tonadilla singer and actress.

She was an international star in the 1920s and 1930s, appearing in several films and touring Europe and the Americas. A vaudeville performer, she sang the original versions of well known songs such as "La Violetera" and "El relicario", both written by José Padilla Sánchez.

Early life and career

Francisca Romana Marqués López was born in Tarazona, Aragón in the neighborhood of Cinto. Her father, Telesforo Marqués Ibañez, worked as a blacksmith and her mother, Isabel López Sainz, ran a grocery store. Her family was one of the oldest in Aragón and were quite wealthy before becoming impoverished during the Carlist Wars. At the age of four, her family moved to Barcelona. Her father died when she was not yet 10 years old and she was placed under the care of her aunt, Sister María del Carmen, an abbess in the convent at Figueras. When her aunt asked her to become a nun, she escaped from the convent with the help of a gardener's ladder.