César Costa

Born

1941-08-13

Birthplace

Mexico City, Mexico

Biography

Singer, actor, record producer, lawyer, television actor, film actor and composer. Member of the Advisory Board of UNICEF Mexico and Goodwill Ambassador. The Black Jeans are the pioneers of rock and roll in Mexico, having been founded in 1956 by Diego de Cossío. César Roel began his musical career under that name in 1958 as the lead singer in the group Los Black Jeans, which also included Juan Manuel de Cossío, Diego de Cossío and Carlos Loftus, singing Spanish versions of English hits. In 1958, they recorded for the Peerless record company "La Batalla de Jericho" and "La Cucaracha", being one of the pioneers in rock and roll recordings in Mexico. When the group signed with the Musart label, they changed their name to Los Camisas Negras, and César Roel became César Costa (in honor of bandleader Don Costa) and they were reinforced with Javier de la Cueva on piano. Their first and only LP was released in 1960. Soon after, the group disintegrated and César Costa began a successful solo career. Rewriting and singing into Spanish adaptations of English melodies, mainly by Canadian singer-songwriter Paul Anka, he developed his own style, competing with Enrique Guzmán, in the "crooner" style, emulating Frank Sinatra. His main characteristic in his presentations was to appear wearing greca sweaters, many of them given to him by his female fans. He was host of the program La carabina de Ambrosio (from 1978). From 1987 to 1994 he participated in the comedy show Papá soltero, which became a great success throughout Latin America and later in its movie version in 1995. He also hosted the variety shows Un nuevo día (with Rebecca de Alba, Evelio "with a v" and later with Luz Blanchett) and Al fin de semana. In 2017 he participated in the Latin American dubbing of Disney Pixar's Coco.