How a Lifetime of Songwriting Helped Angela Álvarez Earn Her First Latin Grammy Nomination at 95

Mar. 15, 2025

Angela Alvarez.Photo: Kimberly Yatsko

Angela Álvareznever thought her songs would reach the masses.

A lifelong singer, the 95-year-old musician wrote dozens of songs over the last few decades, often playing them for friends and family. But she never put them out into the world — until now.

Thanks to the help of her grandson, Álvarez finally released her self-titled debut album last year, and is now up for best new artist at the upcoming LatinGrammy Awards.

“It was a very big but very beautiful surprise, and I thought afterwards that all my dreams came true,” she toldBillboard Español. “At 95, but that doesn’t matter.”

Álvarez was born in Cuba, and she’s been musically inclined for as far back as she can remember. Though she wanted to pursue singing as a career, her father had other plans, and instead, she married her husband and had four children.

Though she eventually emigrated to the United States, it wasn’t an easy journey. After she sent her children to the U.S. in 1962 for a better life, she was forced to stay behind for several months and had to be reunited with them later due to a problem with her paperwork, according to theMiami Herald.

As they grew and had families of their own, Alvarez continued to sing. During a trip to visit her in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, her grandson Carlos José Álvarez had the “epiphany” that her life’s work should be recorded in order to preserve “the legacy of our family,” he toldBillboard.

“I didn’t know there were so many [songs], I had no idea,” said Carlos, who works as a composer and producer. “When I got back to L.A., that’s when it clicked. I called her up and I said, ‘Nana, do you want to do this?’ First she said, ‘¡Yo no voy para Los Ángeles! ¿Pa’ qué?' [‘I’m not going to Los Angeles! For what?'] And I say, ‘To record your album!’ And she’s like, ‘OK, I’m there!'”

“They were like, ‘These are her songs? These sound like classics, but I’ve never heard them before!'” he toldBillboard.

ActorAndy Garciaeven got on board after Carlos reached out, and later executive produced and narrated a documentary about her calledMiss Angela. The star even helped Álvarez get a part in hisFather of the Bridereboot, and she also has a song on the soundtrack.

On her 91st birthday, Álvarez played her very first show at the Avalon in Los Angeles with Garcia on the bongos.

Next up, she and Carlos will head to Las Vegas for the Latin Grammys, where she’s slated to perform at the Best New Artists showcase.

“I hope this entire project inspires young people to sit down and talk to their elders,” Carlos toldBillboard. “Ask them questions. Ask them about the dreams they had once upon a time. They will be surprised at what they will find. If we don’t ask them, they won’t tell us, and their wisdom and dreams will leave with them.”

source: people.com