María del Rocío Mohedano Jurado (, 18 September 1944 – 1 June 2006), better known as Rocío Jurado, was a Spanish singer and actress. She was born in Chipiona (Cádiz) and nicknamed "La más grande" ("The Greatest"). In 2000 in New York City, she won the prize "La voz del Milenio" for best female voice of the 20th century. Rocío Jurado sold more than 16 million records, making her one of the best-selling Spanish female singers. She received 5 platinum and 30 gold discs. Childhood and youth Rocío Jurado was born on Calvo Soto Street #11, Chipiona (Cádiz) in Andalusia, Spain. Her father, Fernando Mohedano Crespo (died at 36 years old), was a shoemaker and flamenco singer in his spare time; her mother, Rocío Jurado Bernal (died at 52 years old because of pancreatic cancer), was housewife and amateur performer of Andalusian traditional music. Rocío Jurado was the eldest of 3 children, Gloria (1950) and Amador (1953) and she had 3 nephews and 5 nieces. At home, Rocío Jurado learned to love music; her first public performance was at the age of eight, in a play at Colegio La Divina Pastora. She learned to work hard when she was a girl, She sang in the church, and took part in some festivals organized by her school when she was fifteen. After her father's death, she helped with the precarious family finances. She worked as a shoemaker and as a fruit picker, and still had time to show up at Radio Sevilla contests. She came to be known as "The Girl of the Awards" after winning every radio station contest she entered. A friend of her mother introduced her to Manolo Caracol, her teacher. Pastora Imperio immediately hired Rocío for the tablao (flamenco stage) she ran: El Duende, one of the first of the tablaos period. Being a minor, she had to wear clothes that made her appear older to avoid drawing the attention of the authorities. Her workmate, the flamenco singer and dancer Cañeta de Málaga, who had also arrived in Madrid under age to seek her art and was hired in El Duende, recalls in an interview how the young Rocío sang "sus alegrías, sus tientos y sus cosas de la Piquer". Rocío had always said that she was born in 1944 because when she arrived in Madrid to sing in 1960 she was a minor. Until she was