MILIKI

The popular artist Miliki was born Emilio Aragón Bermúdez on November 4, 1929, in Sevilla, Spain. At a young age he and his brothers Alfonso and Gabriel joined together to form the musical group Los Payasos de la Tele, going by the names Gaby, Fofo, and Miliki. They began their performance careers in 1939 in the Circo Price, a popular circus of the time. Though the family moved to America while the boys were still in their teens, it was in Cuba that they were able to move forward with their musical careers. They began making television appearances in 1949 that would be aired all over Latin America. In Cuba Miliki met his wife, who shortly thereafter gave birth to their two children, Rita Irasema and Emilio. Though Los Payasos would soon split, Miliki would still have the chance to work with his family -- he soon embarked on an artistic partnership with daughter Rita Irasema. The duo would go on to record several albums together beginning with La Vuelta al Mundo en 30 Minutos in 1986 and ending with Superguay in 1993. Miliki began a new chapter of his artistic career in 1999, reinventing himself as a children's artist. Between 1999 and 2009, Miliki would record eight records of material geared to the young or young at heart, some of which, like Tablas de Multiplicar, have an educational slant. 2009's Miliki y los Cantantes Ayudantes was to be his last album, following which he turned to other artforms in the last years of his life. After directing the Spanish civil war drama Pájaros de Papel in 2010 and publishing the novel Mientras Duermen los Murciélagos in 2012, he died November 18th, 2012 in Madrid, aged 83. His son Emilio Aragón Álvarez, known as Milikito, followed him into the family business, becoming a renowned actor, producer, musician, and TV presenter in his own right. ~ Evan C. Gutierrez, Rovi