Born in 1941 Maracaibo, Pirela soon began making a name for himself as a singer in clubs and on the radio in Maracaibo and, around 1957 got his breakthrough in a singing competition on Radio Caracas Televisión, where he received 3rd place.
He began being offered jobs from all over the Caribbean, including from Tito Rodríguez. He travelled to México to perform and record his first album Un Solo Camino. It was during his time performing in Mexico that he was baptised ’The Bolerista of the Americas.’ He became an instant sensation, gracing the great stages of the continent during his tours in los the US, Colombia, República Dominicana, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Perú.
Whilst still in his twenties Pirela became the best-selling artist in the Americas, receiving the platinum award from his label Velvet, for being the first Venezuelan to sell over a million records. But his personal life was a mess. Escaping a troubled marriage and divorce (it was later rumoured that he was gay) Pirela went to live in Puerto Rico
On Sunday 2nd July 1972, in the early hours of the morning, Pirela was walking in the Isla Verde neighbourhood, when just outside Hotel Cecilia's Plac in Calle La Rosa, gun shots from a car fatally hit and killed the singer. He was only 31 años de edad. A few days later, in police custody, Luis Rosado Medina, un local drug dealer confessed to his murder, claiming: "Pirela owed me five thousand dollars for cocaine he bought off me.”
The first recording paying homage to Pirela was from no other than Héctor Lavoe, releasing a 1979 album "Recordando a Felipe Pirela"released by Fania Records.
