Consuelo Velázquez Torres (August 21, 1916 in Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco – January 22, 2005, Mexico City), also popularly known as Consuelito Velázquez, was a Mexican concert pianist and composer. She was the composer of famous Mexican ballads such as "Bésame mucho", "Amar y vivir", and "Cachito". Beginning Years Originally from Ciudad Guzmán, Mexico, she was the youngest of five daughters born to the soldier and poet Isaac Velázquez de Valle and his wife, María de Jesús Torres Ortíz. At four years old she started to demonstrate a good ear and an aptitude for music, and at barely six years old she began studying music and piano at the Académia de Música Serratos in Guadalajara. After several years of study, when she was eleven, she moved to Mexico City, where she continued her studies and obtained a degree in teaching music and concert piano at the National Conservatory of Music. Her first public concert was held in the Palacio de Bellas Artes in the capital, and soon after she began as a composer of popular music. As a concert pianist, she was a soloist of Mexico's National Symphony Orchestra and of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. As performing on the radio for a young woman of a wealthy family was risky, she used a male pseudonym in her first years. Mariano Rivera Conde, who was the artistic director of the station, pushed her to admit she was the author of the songs. Velázquez married him six years later. Composer As a composer her legacy has been more well known. Her first compositions, "No me pidas nunca", "Pasional" and "Déjame quererte", were from the genre "naturaleza romántica", which emphasizes nature's beauty and strength. Later, songs like "Bésame mucho", "Amar y vivir", "Verdad Amarga", "Franqueza", "Chiqui", "Cachito", "Que seas feliz", "Enamorada", "Orgullosa y bonita" and "Yo no fui" (a danceable song initially popularized by Pedro Infante and, in recent years, by Pedro Fernández) emerged among others. Velázquez's work as an actress in the 1938 Argentinian movie Noches de Carnaval directed by filmmaker Julio Saraceni was unique for her career. As a pianist she was also involved in the Mexican movies directed by Julián Soler Se le pasó la mano​ made in 1952 and Mis padres se divorcian made in 1959. Additionally, she appeared in the documentary about her life, Consuelo Velázquez, made in 1992. Throughout her life she