Rita HayworthBorn
on October 17, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York to an Irish-American mother and Andalucian father.
As a teenager Margarita Carmen
Cansino began her career when she toured the US
and Mexico, performing traditional Spanish dances with her world-renowned father Eduardo Cansino. When Hollywood came calling, studio executives had her black hair dyed to auburn, used electrolysis to push back her hairline, shortened her first name and tacked on her mother's maiden name of Hayworth to make her less "Spanish". Rita Hayworth went on to star with Hollywood legends such as Fred Astaire, Cary Grant
and Glenn Ford in Silver Screen classics like Separate Tables and Cover
Girl. Hayworth was
married 5 times including Prince Aly Khan, the son of the Aga Khan and Orson Welles each of whom she has a child with. Following her death from Alzheimer's disease on May 14, 1987 at age 68 she was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Fergie
Stacy Ann Ferguson aka "Fergie" was born on March 27, 1975 in Hacienda Heights, California, the daughter of Terri and Patrick Ferguson. Her parents are strict Roman Catholics of Irish, Mexican and Scottish descent. Fergie's started her career as a child star on Kids Incorporated and later as a member of the all-girl singing group Wild Orchid. She is currently a member of the Black Eyed Peas as well as a solo artist, releasing her debut album "The Dutchess" in 2006. Her solo album produced three number one singles and five Top 5 hits on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart. She thus become the first female artist with three number one hits on one album since Christina Aguilera in 2000.
Donna de Varona Donna Elizabeth de Varona was born to
Mexican and Irish parents in San Diego, California on April 26, 1947. de Varona was a swimmer in the 1960 and 1964 Olympics winning gold medals in the 400 meter individual medley and as a member of the 400 meter freestyle relay. In 1965, de Varona signed a contract with ABC, which made her the first female sportscaster in television history. She was a political activist in favor of the Title IX entitlement program which provides equal funding regardless of gender for educational programs or activities including intercollegiate athletics. She is also the older sister of actress Joanna Kerns, who played Maggie Seaver on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains.
Soledad O'BrienMaría de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien was born on September 19, 1966 to immigrant parents. Her Afro-Cuban mother and her Irish -Australian father married in 1959 when Interracial marriage in
Maryland was illegal, so the couple exchanged vows in Washington, D.C., then moved to Long Island to raise their family. Her father a mechanical engineering professor and her mother a French and English teacher are obvious proponents of higher education and she was amongst 5 of her 6 siblings who graduated from Harvard University. O'Brien started her television journalist career on an NBC affiliate in Boston moving to New York then San Francisco eventually working on the Today Show and NBC Nightly News. She later moved to CNN as a morning anchor and is currently a reporter and host of
Special Investigations Unit. She has been named on both People's and People en Español's annual list of "Most Beautiful."
Mariah CareyCarey was born on March 27, 1970 in New York to Patricia Hickey, a former opera singer of Irish descent, and Alfred Roy Carey, an aeronautical engineer of Afro-Cuban descent. In 1990 her debut album under the guidance of Tommy Motola, had four singles top
the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts. Following her marriage to Mottola in 1993, she had a series of hit records and was named the best-selling female pop artist of the millennium at the 2000 World Music Awards. She has been credited with having a five octave vocal range although some credit her with reaching up to an unheard of eight octaves. In 1998 following her divorce from Mottola she began a long term relationship with Latin superstar Luis Miguel which ended three years later about the time of her infamous "breakdown". The same year Mariah and Whitney Houston's duet song "When You Believe", the theme song from the Prince of Egypt, won an Academy Award. She has recorded the most number-one singles-seventeen-for a female solo artist in the United States and has received five Grammy Awards and a total of thirty-three nominations since the start of her career. She is the second most-nominated female artist in Grammy Award history behind Aretha Franklin who has thirty-eight nominations.
Suggested Reading:
Latina Icons: Iconos Femininos Latinos e HispanoamericanosTIME Magazine circa 1941 - California Carmen (Rita Hayworth) 
