11 Facts About Esther Forero

Esther Forero Celis, better known as Estercita Forero or "La Novia de Barranquilla", was a Colombian singer and composer.

Esther Forero began to sing at age 4 at family gatherings and theaters of her hometown, Barranquilla.

Esther Forero traveled to Santo Domingo, where she wrote her first song entitled "Santo Domingo", and the porro "Pegadita de los hombres", which became a hit and sold 80,000 copies for three consecutive years.

Esther Forero's older son, Ivan, died at a young age, apparently having been stabbed to death; this was a loss that would always be in her mind as Ivan's son would pass away in similar circumstances years later.

Esther Forero returned to Colombia in 1959, after 10 years of spreading the country's Caribbean music abroad.

Esther Forero began recording her music with orchestras such as those of Pacho Galan, Nuncira Machado, Anibal Velasquez, and Climaco Sarmiento, with singers including Gabriel Romero, Joe Arroyo, and Alfredo Gutierrez.

Esther Forero received innumerable tributes, medals, parchments, plaques, and trophies, in recognition of work done as an ambassador of Colombian music to the world.

Estercita Esther Forero sang to her land in an endearing and nostalgic way.

Esther Forero's songs are or were part of the Barranquillan collective imagination and have deeply penetrated the identity of its inhabitants, who recognize and revere them as popular anthems.

Esther Forero died on Friday, 3 June 2011 at age 91 at La Asuncion Clinic, in her hometown of Barranquilla, after complications in several organs in her body.

Esther Forero arrived at this clinic on Wednesday, 11 May 2011, with a shoulder dislocation, which later led to convulsions and cerebral ischemia.