Audio By Carbonatix
Charo is 20 minutes late to our Zoom interview because she’s locked out of her Los Angeles home while juggling a day of press. Her manager calls me from the front seat of his car as Charo leans out the passenger-side window, calling “¿Abierto?” through the gates of her own property.
“It’s been a hectic day,” he says, as hair and makeup appointments stack up in the background. Once inside her house, Charo laughs and asks, “Why don’t I have a key?” before settling into a quiet corner to talk. Behind her, paintings of Spanish landscapes and city scenes line the walls. When the interview finally begins, the chaos drops away — and what emerges is focus, warmth and total command.
Charo is best known to many as the “cuchi-cuchi” camp queen of 1970s TV staple “The Love Boat.” That familiar image doesn’t tell the whole story. Long before she became a pop-culture fixture, Charo studied under classical guitar legend Andrés Segovia and built a career rooted in flamenco. When she brings her show to Tempe Center for the Arts on Friday, the audience will see her full presence. “When I sit down on the stool, I am very serious,” Charo says. “I want to show the guitar — the real classical flamenco.”
To prepare for her performances, Charo practices late — often well after midnight, when her house is quiet and the only sound is her guitar. She’s been playing since childhood, and the discipline she learned studying with Segovia still shapes her routine decades later. “If you don’t practice for a week, nobody knows,” she says, recalling one of his oft-repeated lessons. “If you don’t practice for two weeks, nobody knows. If you don’t practice for a month — everybody knows.”
Twice the readers of Guitar Player magazine have voted her Best Flamenco Guitarist. But more Americans know her charms from TV. Charo adapted from sitcom appearances to late night (Carson had her on more than 45 times) and eventually reality shows: “The Surreal Life,” “Hollywood Squares,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” SyFy’s “Sharknado 5” cast her as the Queen of England. Her enduring presence in pop culture is part huge personality, part performance. “I move with the time,” she says. “But you don’t forget who you are.”
Her adaptability has allowed Charo to reach audiences far beyond the worlds flamenco typically occupies. Her fans hail from a range of cultures, ages and backgrounds. “I have many different audiences walking in: English, Spanish, young people, older people,” she says. “And I change. But the music stays.”
Charo’s show at Tempe Center for the Arts promises an intimate setting, with symphony seating and clear acoustics designed for careful listening. Flamenco isn’t flash-for-flash’s sake. In Charo’s hands, it’s serious without being stiff. “If you go too fast, you miss the beauty and the soul of the music,” she says. Her astounding technique helps her drive home the music’s emotions. “When I hit the string and make the guitar sing,” she says, “people cry.”
That kind of response is the result of a lifetime spent learning when to hold back, when to lean in, and when to let the music speak for itself. Charo approaches each performance with care, mindful of the time and attention audiences choose to give her. “They buy the ticket. They dress very good. They park, they sit down,” she says. “Everybody has stress. I want them to leave and say it was worth it, the money and the time.”
Charo: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13. Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe. Tickets cost $28.75 to $57.50.
