Carlos José Almenar Otero, known professionally as Carlos Otero, was born on March 21, 1926, in Caracas, Venezuela. He began his career as a swimmer but soon discovered his passion for singing. Otero's breakthrough came when he won the first prize at the Mario-Lanza-Musikwettbewerb in Caracas in 1951, which allowed him to represent Venezuela internationally. Following this success, he moved to Italy to further his vocal studies and made his debut performances at Teatro Nuovo and Teatro Lirico in Milan. In the late 1950s, Otero relocated to Germany, where he signed with Polydor Records and achieved significant success with songs like "Weine keine Träne um mich" and "Cara Mia". His tours took him across Europe, Russia, Japan, and the United States. The Japanese newspaper The Japan Times praised his voice as one of the most beautiful to visit Japan during the 1960s. Otero returned to Caracas in the mid-1970s, where he became known as "La Voz de Oro de Venezuela" (The Golden Voice of Venezuela) and worked extensively as a singer and vocal coach. He founded the Fundación Almenar Otero, which supported Venezuelan music through charitable concerts. Otero later moved to Florida in 2003 due to political instability in Caracas. There, he continued his work as a vocal instructor and performed small concerts until his death on August 7, 2018, in Miami at the age of 92.
