Rocio Jurado, beloved figure in Spain and Latin America dead at 61 of pancreatic cancer

Photo: Rocio Jurado, beloved figure in Spain and Latin America dead at 61 of pancreatic cancer

Jurado's death was announced to journalists by her brother and agent, Amador Mohedano, outside his sister.s home on the outskirts of Madrid.

A feisty Andalusian women with feline eyes and flowing reddish hair, Jurado was known fondly as "la mas grande de Espana" - Spain's greatest. She won myriad awards, recorded more than 30 records, performed on both sides of the Atlantic and appeared in nearly a dozen films, her first as a teenager. In 1985 she performed at the White House for then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

Jurado - her full name was Maria del Rocio Trinidad Mohedano Jurado -  was known for a powerful voice that blended traditional Spanish styles of flamenco, folk and romantic ballads.

A glitzy but revered fixture on the Spanish showbiz scene, Jurado was first married to a world champion boxer, then a well-known bullfighter, jetting back and forth from her mansion in Madrid and ranch in Seville, the AP reports.

Jurado was hospitalized in Madrid after returning to Spain in late March after two months of cancer treatment in Houston, Texas. She was first diagnosed with cancer in 2004.

A prolific entertainer, she won a slew of awards over the course of her career, including prizes for flamenco singing, album of the year in Spain in 1980 and 1985 and honors in Venezuela, Mexico, Miami and Las Vegas.

While living in Argentina, she performed in a play called La Zapatera Prodigiosa, based on work by Federico Garcia Lorca. After teaming up with composer Manuel Alejandro, Jurado became a huge hit on the Latin music scene, becoming acclaimed throughout America and Spain.

Her overseas concerts also included shows at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Madison Square Garden in New York and Beethoven Hall in Bonn, Germany.