Maria Conchita Alonso

María Conchita Alonso (born June 29, 1957), better known as María Conchita, is a Cuban-American Venezuelan-raised three time Grammy Award–nominated singer/songwriter and actress. --- María Conchita Alonso was born María Concepción Alonso Bustillo in Cienfuegos, Cuba, the daughter of Ricardo Alonso and María Conchita Bustillo. Her family moved to Venezuela when she was five years old, in 1962. She had her first experience in show business when she was crowned Miss Teenager of the World in 1971, and was Miss World/Venezuela in 1975 where she became sixth runner-up in the Miss World pageant won by Puerto Rico's Wilnelia Merced; she quickly became a top model and a popular singer/actress in Venezuela. Alonso's first gold album and number one song in the charts was "Love Maniac" in 1979, her name as a singer back then was A'mbar, after that followed her second number 1 with "The Witch" and soon after "Dangerous Rhythm". In what is generally considered to be her best known song, she was asked by Giorgio Moroder to write the lyrics in Spanish and sing "Vamos a Bailar" which he had written to be part of the soundtrack for the film Scarface. The song instantly became a classic amongst Spanish speakers despite failing to garner any major attention outside of Cuba where it was recorded. As her two albums with Ambar and her solo debut were recorded in English, it was her second album "Maria Conchita" from 1984 that made her a singing star in the Spanish-speaking market, receiving a "Best Latin Artist" Grammy nomination for it in 1985 She made her Hollywood film debut in 1984 in Moscow on the Hudson with Robin Williams, and also starred in movies like The Running Man, Predator 2, The House of the Spirits, Vampire's Kiss,Colors and the TV reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. She was one of the few Latin-born actress to star in a Broadway show in 1995, playing Aurora in Kiss of the Spider Woman. Alonso also acted in romantic comedies Chasing Papi (2003) and The Last Guy on Earth (2006). Alonso was cast to play Lucía, the mother of Gabrielle Solis, on the ABC hit show Desperate Housewives. The episode was aired on February 19, 2006. And she was also in the Latin version Amas de Casa Desesperadas for Univision Network. She was a guest star in the live-action film of the comic book, El Muerto, and appeared in the film Material Girls (2006). Alonso hosted VH1's Viva Hollywood! on April 13, 2008 with Carlos Ponce. She portrayed Sam in the Werewolf horror film Wolf Moon, which was directed by Dana Mennie.