Nélida Roca

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Born Nélida Mercedes Musso
May 30, 1929
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Died December 4, 1999 (aged 70)
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Occupation(s) Supervedette –
actress, dancer, singer, model
Years active 1947–1974 (The Golden Revue)
Spouses
Julio Rivera Roca
(m. 1949⁠–⁠1962)
Ricky Giuliano
(m. 1963⁠–⁠1969)

Nélida Roca (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈneliða ˈroka]; May 30, 1929 – December 4, 1999) was one of the first showbusiness divas and sex symbols of Argentina. She was an actress, dancer, singer, model and theatre super vedette.

Born Nélida Mercedes Musso in Buenos Aires, her friends and colleagues fondly called her La Roca (“The Rock”). From childhood, she sought to become a famous artist but had to confront her parents’ strong opposition to the idea. Her mother was from the Galicia region of Spain, and her father was an Italian man from Genoa.

Nélida married Julio Rivera Roca, a jazz piano player, in 1949, which got her to complete her dream as the lead vocalist in his orchestra. During one such performance, she was discovered in 1950 by Luis César Amadori, owner of the Maipó Theatre. She first starred on the professional stage in Amadori’s The Maipó Theatre is Telling its Stories. The show’s commercial success allowed Amadori to triple the price of the seats, and she became a legend in her genre during the 1950s. Critics and the public came to know her as “The Venus of Corrientes Avenue” (the Buenos Aires theatre district).

She remarried in 1963 with vocalist Aldo Perricone (known by his stage name, Ricky Giuliano), though the marriage ended in 1969. In her last show, in the winter of 1974, she shared full credits with the then-up-and-coming star Susana Giménez. The show, The Golden Revue, her last performance, dealt with cultural changes in Argentina over the years.
Death: She died of a heart attack in December 1999, at age 70.