Angela Alvarez: Award for the 95-year-old Cuban singer – It’s never too late to chase your dreams…

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Alvarez learned to sing as a child, but put it aside to raise a family

One of the winners of the Latin Grammy New Artist Award, Angela Alvares, spoke to Variety Studio about her historic victory and shared her secrets that led her to the great achievement, while giving advice to young people. 95-year-old Alvarez shared the award with 25-year-old Silvana Estrada.

In a humble manner, the Cuban singer told Variety that she’s been honored to be surrounded by artists who seem far more professional than she is — despite the fact that she’s been singing and writing songs since the 1930s, albeit privately, and that she never imagined what the future held for her.

“This is something that happened overnight,” he said. “I’ve always loved to sing since I was a little girl…when my family would have parties for Christmas or birthdays, I’d be the singer – they’d make me long dresses and announce my entrance to sing.”

Alvarez learned to sing as a child, but put it aside to raise a family – most of whom were at the award ceremony, including her grandson Carlos Jose Alvarez, who produced her self-titled record.

When asked what her advice would be for young artists, she said: “Your life begins now. Always aspire to achieve something, chase inspiration to sing, do it. And don’t get hung up on the idea that you might fail. Keep going and when you get to the end, then you can say you can or you can’t — but always try first.”

The singer continued: “There are a lot of open doors out there – the only person closing those doors is yourself. If we don’t try, the doors will be closed. I had to wait 80 years to get to where I am today.”

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