A new memorial bust statue was unveiled at her final resting place, at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, in honor of what would have been her 100th birthday
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Yma Sumac
Zoila Emperatriz Chávarri Castillo, known as Yma Sumac, was a Peruvian-born vocalist, actress, model, musical composer and producer. She won a Guinness World Record for the Greatest Range of Musical Value in 1956. She has also been called Queen of Exotica and is considered a pioneer of world music. Her debut album, Voice of the Xtabay (1950), peaked at number one in the Billboard 200, selling a mi…
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entertainment · Peruvian singer (1922–2008) · singer · model · actor · composer · record producer · musician · opera singer · also Yma Sumac, Zoila Emperatriz Chavarri Castillo, Sumac
Born 13 September 1922 · Died 1 November 2008 · Q239030
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2022· 3 entries
NPR: Celebrating the legacy of Peruvian singer Yma Sumac
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Released album “Essential Classics, Vol. 88: Yma Sumac”.
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2021· 2 entries
Released album “La voz misteriosa de los Andes”.
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Released album “Incan High Priestess”.
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2020· 2 entries
Released album “Queen of Exotica - The Complete Studio Recording 1942-1959”.
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(digitally and on vinyl records) by Madrid label Ellas Rugen (Ladies Who Roar) Records, dedicated to the greatest female Latin American singers of the second half of the 20th century
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2019· 1 entry
The Financial Times: Yma Sumac: The Quintessence — foundational documents of ’50s exotica
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2016· 3 entries
Yahoo: This Is What It Was Like to Hear Yma Sumac Sing in Concert
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A Google Doodle depicted Sumac
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Yahoo: Google’s New Doodle Celebrates Yma Sumac, the ‘Peruvian Songbird’
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2015· 1 entry
Released album “The Essential Recordings”.
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2012· 1 entry
Released album “Early Yma Sumac: The Imma Sumack Sessions”.
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2008· 5 entries
NPR: Singer Yma Sumac Dies
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Washington Post: Yma Sumac, 86; Postwar Sensation Had Unique Voice
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Died 2008-11-01.
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Aged 86, at an assisted living home in Los Angeles, California, nine months after being diagnosed with colon cancer
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Released album “The Exotic Lure of Yma Sumac”.
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2006· 3 entries
Awarded Order of the Sun of Peru (2006).
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Sumac flew to Lima, where she was presented the Orden del Sol award by Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo and the Jorge Basadre medal by the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos
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Released album “The Sun Virgin”.
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2005· 1 entry
Released album “Queen of Exotica”.
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2003· 1 entry
Released album “Kon Tiki”.
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2002· 1 entry
Released album “The Exotic Sounds of Yma Sumac”.
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2000· 1 entry
Released album “The Ultimate Yma Sumac Collection”.
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1999· 1 entry
Released album “Voice of the Xtabay & Other Exotic Delights”.
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1998· 1 entry
Released album “Yma Rocks!”.
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1997· 1 entry
Released album “Shou Condor”.
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1996· 1 entry
Released ep “Sampler Exotica”.
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1994· 1 entry
Released album “Amor indio”.
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1992· 2 entries
Declined to appear in a documentary for German television entitled Yma Sumac – Hollywoods Inkaprinzessin (Yma Sumac – Hollywood's Inca Princess)
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Released album “Twice as Much”.
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1991· 2 entries
Released album “Yma Sumac, Vol. 2”.
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Released album “Yma Sumac, Vol. 1”.
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1990· 1 entry
Released album “Recital”.
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1989· 1 entry
Sang again at the Ballroom in New York and returned to Europe for the first time in 30 years to headline the BRT's "Gala van de Gouden Bertjes" New Year's Eve TV special in Brussels as well as the "Etoile Palace" pro
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1988· 1 entry
Released album “Voice of the Xtabay”.
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1987· 3 entries
Released album “The Spell of Yma Sumac”.
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Recorded "I Wonder" from the Disney film Sleeping Beauty for Stay Awake, an album of songs from Disney movies, produced by Hal Willner
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(where she was held over for seven weeks to standing-room only crowds) and several San Francisco shows at the Theatre on the Square among others
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1974· 1 entry
Sumac had more than 3,000 concerts "covering the entire globe", breaking any previous records by a performer
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1971· 2 entries
Sumac released a rock album, Miracles
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Released album “Miracles”.
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1960· 2 entries
Awarded star on Hollywood Walk of Fame (1960).
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Became the first Latin American woman to get a phonograph record star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
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1959· 2 entries
Released album “Fuego del Ande”.
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Performed Jorge Bravo de Rueda's classic song "Vírgenes del Sol" on her album Fuego del Ande
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1957· 2 entries
Released album “Legend of the Jivaro”.
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Sumac and Vivanco divorced, after Vivanco sired twins with another woman
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1955· 1 entry
Released album “Mambo!”.
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1954· 1 entry
Composer and music critic Virgil Thomson described Sumac's voice as "very low and warm, very high and birdlike," noting that her range "is very close to five octaves, but is in no way inhuman or outlandish in sound
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1953· 2 entries
“Chuncho (The Forest Creatures)”
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Released album “Inca Taqui”.
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1952· 1 entry
Released album “Legend of the Sun Virgin”.
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1951· 2 entries
Sumac became the first Latin American and Peruvian female singer to debut on Broadway
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As a foreign princess who brings Aladdin's lamp to an American toy factory to have it repaired
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1950· 2 entries
At which time her stage name became Yma Sumac
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Made her first tour to Europe and Africa, and debuted at the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Royal Festival Hall before the future Queen of England
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1949· 1 entry
Yma gave birth to their only child, Carlos
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1946· 2 entries
Formally supported her claim to be descended from Atahualpa, the last Incan emperor
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Sumac and Vivanco moved to New York City, where they performed as the Inka Taqui Trio, Sumac singing soprano, Vivanco on guitar, and her cousin, Cholita Rivero, singing contralto and dancing
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1938· 1 entry
With Moises Vivanco in a religious festival at Callao
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1934· 1 entry
Traveled to live in Lima with her relatives
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1922· 1 entry
Born 1922-09-13.
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