Julio Sosa

Who was Julio Sosa?

Julio María Sosa Venturini, usually referred to simply as Julio Sosa or El Varón del Tango, was a Uruguayan tango singer.

Sosa was born in Las Piedras, a Canelones Department suburb of Montevideo, Uruguay. He moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1949, where he became famous with the Orquesta Francini-Pontier the Orquesta típica formed by the violinist Enrique Mario Francini and the bandoneonist Armando Pontier . Working with numerous other orchestras, he was reunited with Pontier in 1955, with whom he recorded several best-selling albums on the RCA Victor and Columbia labels and became one of the most important tango singers in the genre's history.

He married Nora Ulfed in 1958 and had a daughter. His marriage ended in separation, however, and he settled into a relationship with Susana Merighi. Nicknamed El Varón del Tango, Sosa also published a book of poetry, Dos horas antes del alba, in 1960. Following his switch to Columbia Records in 1961, the Pontier orchestra incorporated a new bandoneonist, Leopoldo Federico, and the association helped make the group the most successful in its genre, at the time.