Capitán Memo (2)

Juan Guillermo Aguirre (1951), better known as Memo Aguirre and/or "Capitán Memo", is a famous Chilean singer and composer, whose voice became famous throughout Latin America in the 1980s, thanks to the opening songs and closure of the superhero animated series. As a teenager, he joined the band "Los Sacros". The band was not very successful, and Aguirre, perhaps disillusioned, moved to the United States in 1971, taking up residence in San Francisco, California. Aguirre came to the US with dreams of becoming a famous singer. He suffered hardships for a long time in that country, even singing songs by Elvis Presley and Leonardo Favio on street corners, to live off the money he received from passers-by. Later, he debuted on the San Francisco bar circuit, becoming a regular performer and receiving better income for his work. In addition to singing on the same boat where they filmed "El Crucero del Amor"; At that time, Aguirre was known as "Santiago Vinias", a name that was later shortened to "Santiago". Aguirre's luck improved when, in the mid-1970s, he was hired by Miami-based Sound Connection Studios. Animated superhero television series were increasing in popularity in Latin America and their producers required voice actors and singers to adapt them to that market. Aguirre interpreted the Spanish versions of the presentation songs of series such as "Little Lulú", "Capitán Futuro", "Fantastic Four", "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe", etc. As you know, Memo also took part in the composition of a large part of those songs (including that of "Abeja Maya", interpreted by Pilar Díaz), together with the Israeli Shuki Levy and the Chilean Erich Bulling, among others; Giving life to several long plays such as "Adventures" (with themes from various ZIV International animes), "The Legion of Superheroes" (where he sang the heroes of Marvel Comics), "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe ", "Captain Future", etc. Some of these albums were recorded in 1981. At that time, Aguirre lived very well, collecting coins from each country where he performed his songs. But ironically, he was not as well known as his voice, except on banderachilena.gif, where he occasionally visited and gave television interviews. Those endearing cartoons to which Aguirre sang, were exhibited in countries such as Argentina, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and many other Latin American countries, where many children and young adults from those areas could identify his voice, but not his name or face. . At the beginning of the 21st century, he announced future plans to make a CD, which would contain several songs composed by him. Although they are old, these songs would be new to the general public, as he never had the opportunity to perform them in front of a mass audience. This is how the idea for the album "El Regreso de los Robots" was born, a production released in 2004 with 16 songs written and performed by Aguirre, who has since been accredited as "Capitán Memo". Result: Gold record in the first weeks of sale, contacts in various clubs and invitations to various television programs. The success of the first album was such that even Memo's fans imagined his idol singing covers of various cartoon themes, as well as a few songs he wrote. That was how, thanks to those suggestions from his fans, Memo gave life to his second production: "Grand Prix" (2005), which -like his previous album- also enjoyed tremendous success. Currently, Memo Aguirre -with approximately 54 years of age- resides in Santiago, and enjoys a very good popularity thanks to his songs. In his own words, he fulfilled the mission of reviving that lively nostalgia of which he was a part of him, and wants to make his own music. In any case, Memo has known how to occupy a place in lively Latin music, and also in our hearts. And he has managed to maintain it even today.