Quick Facts
Biography
Cristian Vasile (May 8, 1908, Braila – June 15, 1974, Sibiu) was a Romanian, well-known tango-romance (Romanţă) singer between 1928 and 1949, famous for songs like "Zaraza", "Aprinde o ţigară", "Ce să-ţi mai scriu", "Pentru tine am făcut nebunii", "Nunuţo". He died in 1974 in Sibiu. Another rumor for his diminishing voice and death is neck cancer but it is more credible than the story with the alleged suicidal attempts after his love was killed. There was no person form the era able to verify the existence of this person (gipsy or not) and her killing by a known culprit. This story was created, probably, to cover up his loss of voice due to cancer.
Cristian Vasile was to be remembered as "the last troubadour". Although he was supposedly at odds with Zavaidoc, another famous Romanian singer of the era, there is no proof that such a rivalry existed beyond pink novels and rumors.
His greatest success, the song "Zaraza", said to refer to a Gypsy woman he was in love with at that time, was in fact an adapted version of a Uruguayan tango written in 1929 by Benjamín Alfonso Tagle Lara.