Bernardo Mitnik (4 September 1933 – 18 August 2023), best known as Chico Novarro, was an Argentine singer-songwriter, composer, musician, television presenter and actor. He specialized in tango and bolero compositions.
Born in Santa Fe, the son of a Ukrainian shoemaker and a Jewish housewife of Romanian origin, Novarro started studying music at young age; as an adolescent he moved to Córdoba to cure his asthma, and there he began playing drums in a jazz band and in an orchestra.[1] In 1956 he joined the jazz ensemble Agrupación Nuevo Jazz, which also included Gato Barbieri.[1] In 1961, he moved to Buenos Aires, where he briefly joined the jazz band Swing Timers,[2] and formed the duo Los Navarros with Raúl Bonetto, recording an album for RCA.[1]
Novarro had his breakout as a cast member of the 1962-4 Canal 13 musical show Club del Clan [es], which gave him immediate notoriety and made him a teen idol.[1][2] He soon started releasing successful albums, and authoring hits for other singers including Palito Ortega and Violeta Rivas.[1]
Between late 1960s and 1970s Novarro collaborated several times with María Elena Walsh.[1] In the early 1970s, he collaborated with Eladia Blázquez, who introduced him to the tango composition.[2] Another notable collaboration was with Rubén Juárez, who starting from 1983 recorded several of his songs, also duetting with him in 『Cordón』and "El último round".[1] Starting from the late 1980s he had a large stage success with the show Arráncame la vida.[1][2]
Among Novarro's major hits were "Carta de un león a otro", the OTI Festival 1979 winner "Cuenta conmigo", "Algo contigo", "El camaleón", "Cómo".[1][2] During his career he composed over sixty hundred songs, as well as film scores and incidental music.[2] Beyond boleros and tangos, he also composed pop, rock, jazz, and cumbia songs.[3] He also appeared in several films, mostly comedies.[2] He died on 18 August 2023, at the age of 89.[1][2]
