Kriti Mehrotra
As a biographical drama exploring the controversial career of Spanish pop icon Tamara and her transformation into Yurena, Netflix’s ‘Superstar’ can only be described as poignant. This original is a sister production of the documentary ‘I’m Still a Superstar,’ which chronicles this same tale, albeit with an added insight into the lives of the singer’s old rivals. Amongst them is none other than Loly Álvarez, the musician who preferred the stage name Jennifer Taylor in the early 2000s and had made some baffling claims against the former.
Loly Álvarez Always Dreamed of Making it Big in the Industry
Born in 1970 in the small coastal village of Gualchos in Granada, Spain, as the youngest of her family, Loly Álvarez learned the significance of being hard-working and fierce at an early age. The truth is, she admittedly evolved into a “rebel” with a passion for singing as she grew up, only for her to ultimately decide to pursue a career in the same field at the tender age of 18. That’s when she relocated to Madrid for good, recognizing this could be the perfect move if she played her cards right to navigate the numerous opportunities it presents to artists. Loly’s family wasn’t particularly supportive of her choices, which further fueled her ambitions and drove her to take up every possible gig she could in the hopes of her first big break. She soon encountered fellow musician Leonardo Dantés during a performance.
Their chemistry was so incredible that they ended up forming a duo, Luna Azul. In 1997, the duo released an iteration of an original song penned by Leonardo called “No Cambié.” However, they decided to part ways shortly after because she believed him to be too “fussy.” Loly had no idea Leonardo would subsequently give his song to then-rising star Tamara (now Yuren) for her own version, which blew up and became a national sensation within weeks. This resulted in Loly being thrust into the limelight too, as she crashed an episode of the late-night talk show ‘Crónicas Marcianas’ to assert she was the original singer on the track. The Granada native, known as Jennifer Taylor at the time so as to appeal to a global audience, even claimed that Tamara was singing over her vocals, stirring a lot of drama. In the end, nothing became of her confrontational efforts, and she continued pursuing her own vision.
Loly Álvarez’s Personal Relationships Have Taken Center Stage Since 2019
While it’s true that Loly released another version of “No Cambié” in the early 2000s alongside Tony Genil in the hopes of propelling her career, she actually soon slipped away from the limelight. This was around the same time she found what she believed to be her forever love in a man named Ronnie, so they eventually tied the knot and settled down in a quiet neighborhood in Madrid. However, in 2019, she resurfaced with her participation in the Spanish version of ‘Survivor’ called ‘Supervivientes,’ and although she was the first person to be eliminated, she left a mark.
What Loly never imagined was that it would soon come out that her husband had been unfaithful, suddenly making her feel as if all their years of devotion and passion were a lie to her. Therefore, they filed for divorce on July 26, 2019, with the mutual agreement that Ronnie would still stay with her at their place until things were finalized, only for her to then discover his biggest betrayal. When the singer found herself seriously ill with a heart condition, she gave her estranged husband control of her social media profiles, just for him to use them to share intimate photos with other women while pretending to be her. He later also admitted he had been unfaithful with several women for over 7 years.
Ronnie shattered Loly’s heart, telling her, “it turned him on to see how women liked him,” unaware that his actions would also be how she would soon find her one true love. The singer was actually informed about what was going on behind her back by several of the women he had conversed with over the years, and amongst them was police officer Belinda Retamal. The latter caught Loly’s attention with her bright personality as well as innate charm, so they exchanged numbers and gradually got to know one another before suddenly finding themselves head over heels in love. They have been together ever since, and the singer has asserted she is happier than ever before with Belinda.
Loly Álvarez is a Public Figure Through and Through
Despite the several scandals of Loly’s past, from what we can tell, the 55-year-old remains unwaveringly determined to continue building a career for herself in the entertainment industry. However, aside from singing, she is now focused on doing so by also dabbling in other avenues such as online influencing, modeling, hosting, as well as acting, all of which she seems to have a knack for. In fact, it appears as if she is currently working on a few projects, so we can’t wait to see what’s in the cards for her next as she juggles her personal life, her profession, and her health issues.
According to Loly’s own account, she has been having a hard time dealing with her medical conditions since 2022, but the only things she finds solace in are her work, Belinda, travel, and her fur baby. Thus, whenever possible, she fills her schedule with different acting, modeling, or singing gigs before having some quality downtime with her loved ones, including friends. After all, upon losing both her parents in the past few years, she knows the importance of care, efforts, and strong connections while people or pets are still around. She actually adopted her fur baby, Cookie, at 4 months old back in 2022. Coming to Loly’s travels, whether it be France or Italy, it seems like this Madrid resident has been everywhere near her home country since she kickstarted her career over 35 years ago.
