María Luz Casal Paz (; born 11 November 1958) is a Spanish pop singer. She grew up in the municipality of Boimorto, took singing, piano and ballet classes, and moved to Madrid to pursue a career as a musician. She became famous in the early 1980s, and remained an important figure in Spanish pop music all through said decade and beyond, with her sound gradually maturing towards soft adult pop. She recorded a cover version of Étienne Daho's French language song "Duel au Soleil" in Spanish called "Un nuevo día brillará", which became a hit song. Since the beginning of her career, she has sold over five million albums. In 1992, she enjoyed great success with her appearance in the soundtrack of Pedro Almodóvar's acclaimed film High Heels singing Agustín Lara's theme "Piensa en mí". In January 2007, Luz Casal was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent an operation at the Ruber Clinic in Madrid, seven months later, she revealed to the Spanish media that she had overcome her disease. More recently in May 2010, she announced that she had been diagnosed with cancer in her other breast and had to cancel her current tour to be operated on. Her second name, Luz, means "light" in Spanish. Biography Early years Luz Casal is the daughter of José Casal and Matilde Paz. When she went to live in Avilés she studied at Paula Frassinetti School, founded by the Dorotean Sisters of Charity. Then, the family went to live in the town of Gijón where she performed for the first time in front of fifty people. There, she studied piano and ballet, apart from that, she formed part of a Rock group called Los Fannys that made versions of other artist's songs. Luz formed part of another band too that performed in Asturias, León and Galicia. Nevertheless, she always wanted to be a solo singer. In 1977, to start her career on the music scene, and after convincing her parents, she went to Madrid, where she made her first recording called: "La guapa" (The beautiful), and made contact with a lot of record labels until an independent production company gave her an audition as a backing singer, which is how she entered the world of professional music. She was a backing singer for mand artist's recordings, in fact she accompanies Juan Pardo in his live performances. From that moment on, she started