María Isabel Llaudes Santiago (4 December 1946), better known by her stage name Karina, is a Spanish singer who had her biggest success in the late 1960s until the mid-1970s. She is the undisputed queen of Spain’s ye-yé scene, enjoying greater success and a longer career than any of her contemporaries. Her “En un mundo Nuevo” is often cited as Spain’s best-ever entry to the Eurovision song contest.
She was born in Jaén, in Andalusia, southern Spain. There is some debate over her date of birth. Some biographies give it as 4 December 1946, others as 12 April 1945. As a child she learned to play the guitar and the piano, and in her teens she went on to perform in clubs and radio stations.
She made her recording debut as Maribel Llaudes in 1961 with two unsuccessful covers of songs chosen from that year's Festival De La Canción De Benidorm.When the newly-christened Karina released her first 4-song EP on the Hispavox label in 1963, Spain was blessed with a new teenaged superstar-unquestionably the queen of Spanish Ye-Yé,and much-idolized for her blond hair and baby-faced good looks.
Like French Ye-Yé favorite, Sylvie Vartan, Karina's early EPs (1963-1966) contained mostly lightweight cover- songs like John Barry's "Goldfinger", Serge Gainsbourg's "Oh Oh Sheriff", and Bacharach-David's "Always Something There To Remind Me". It was Karina's version of an Alberto Cortez song called "Me Lo Dijo Pérez" that took home the 1st prize at the Festival De La Canción De Mallorca in 1965.Not much of a surprise considering the lyrics of "Me Lo Dijo Pérez" read like a tourism ad for the town of Palma De Mallorca (the joys of splashing in the ocean/the never-ending parties in wonderful Mallorca).
At the height of Karina's fame, she couldn't even go out shopping in Spain for fear of being mobbed by fans, and had to resort to travelling to London to buy her clothes. By the latter half of the sixties Karina no longer relied on cover versions for hits and worked with Spanish songwriters on chart-toppers like "El Baúl De Los Recuerdos" (1969), and "Colores" (1970).
Karina's participation in the 1970 Spanish TV special Pasaporte A Dublín, a song contest that served as a warm-up to the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest, won her second place with the beautiful ballad, "En Un Mundo Nuevo". Karina’s domestic success with it even led to her appearance in a film of the same name. The hits continued throughout the early 1970s, including Yo te diré, Y and Oh! Carol.
Karina married the composer of ""En Un Mundo Nuevo", a songwriter named Tony Luz who played guitar in a popular rock'n roll band called Los Pekinekes. Karina went through husbands like Liz Taylor, and rumour has it that she was married a total of seven times. After her quick split with Tony Luz, she took off to Bali and then returned Spain to appear in a play in Madrid in the early 1980s before moving to Mexico, where she enjoyed a comeback with songs such as El amor in 1985 and Siempre estás en mi corazón in 1987.
In the mid-1990s she took part in the Mágicos 60 tour of Spain, appearing alongside other former stars such as Jeanette and Micky. She returned to Spanish TV screens in 2003, winning the series Vivo cantando (named after Salomé’s 1969 Eurovision winner). In 2014 Karina gave a series of farewell concerts.
(Edited from Sclocker Blog Ready Steady Girls & Efemendes Musical)