After being hospitalized with coronavirus, Yucatán trova singer Tony Espinosa — “El Señor Amor” — died Wednesday. He was 68.
Born Antonio Espinosa Becerra in Oxkutzcab on June 11, 1952, the singer launched his trova career at 20.
Earlier: ‘El Señor Amor’ finds a new neighborhood
In Mérida, he received guitar advice from the notable composer Pastor Cervera Rosado and the support of the remembered singer and artistic director Beatriz Eugenia Semerena, who gave him the nickname “La Trova Joven de Yucatán,” local media reported.
He made his debut in the weekly Yucatecan Serenade program in Santa Lucía Park in 1975, and later performed on larger stages in Mérida as well as the Museo de la Canción Yucateca. He also toured in Mexico City and, occasionally, the United States.
Espinosa was the artistic director of the El Trovador Bohemio and La Trova nightclubs at the Hotel Mérida. In October 2010, he opened his own bar, El Nuevo Trovador Bohemio. From 2013 to 2015, he was president of the Committee for the Day of the Yucatecan Troubadour.
In 45 years, he recorded 15 albums in various genres. On numerous occasions, he sang accompanied by the Orquesta Típica Yukalpetén at the Teatro Peón Contreras.
On Oct. 30, 2019, the Ricardo Palmerín Artistic Society awarded him the Ricardo Palmerín Medal and, on March 25, 2020, the Secretary of Culture and the Arts awarded him the Pastor Cervera Medal “for a lifetime in trova.” His oil portrait hangs today at the Museo de la Canción Yucateca.
This loss follows that of another great music star from Yucatán. Armando Manzanero died, also from coronavirus, soon after a museum in his honor was opened in Mérida.
