In 1964, a band called Los Botines gets together in Madrid to play rock songs like ‘Hallelujah surf’ or the then trendy ‘Chico ye-ye’. The intention is to match the success of Los Brincos, but it doesn’t go so well. In fact, in 1966 their singer left to try an unsuccessful solo career and was replaced by a certain Camilo Blanes, thanks to whom they appeared in two movies and recorded great songs like ‘Eres un vago’. Three years later, this Blanes would be the idol of all of Spain and better known as… Camilo Sesto.
Note: For the sake of clarity, during the period in which Sheila Devil was known as Camilo Blanes Jr. or “Camilito” we have used the masculine form.
After the Fifth and before the Seventh
Although a whole generation knows him for the deliciously psychotronic ‘Mola mazo’, Camilo Sesto has to his credit authentic wonders like ‘Jesucristo Superstar’, ‘Vivir así es morir de amor’ or ‘Sentimiento de amor’. Precisely the latter was recorded with a certain Camilo Michael Blanes, better known as “Camilito”. That is, his daughter, who currently goes by the name of Sheila Devil. Okay, we see your faces of bewilderment at the turn of events. We’d better start from the beginning.
Camilo Blanes Jr. was born on November 24, 1983 from his father’s relationship with his “close friend” Lourdes Ornelas. But as we all know from the pink world, Camilo Sesto was not a one-woman man (or a dozen, or a thousand, probably): after the breakup he got custody of his offspring and brought him to Spain, where he spent his entire adolescence. “I already have my son, and I don’t want to hide it for a second, I don’t want to hide my happiness,” the singer commented at the time. And of course, as a person glued to some loudspeakers and instruments, Camilín quickly grew up with the desire to make music.
Along the way, however, father and son drifted apart and Ornelas took advantage of the occasion to get closer to him (reportedly even harassing him). Meanwhile, from Mexico, Camilín’s musical career never took off, partly because, despite his name, the boy was shy and reserved. The problem with having had success by your side all your life is that you are not able to value yourself properly and your achievements seem less.
Blanes went on to record an album in 2014 titled ‘Es lo que siento’ with a record three songs ending in the word “Ti” (‘Háblame de ti’, ‘Para llegar a ti’ and ‘Yo sin ti’). Things as they are: it’s not a geek album in the style of Jesulín de Ubrique or Tamara, but a continuation of his father’s artistic style with a good trained voice. But, already in 2018, his few appearances in public let it be seen that he was not in good health, causing concern to grow in his environment. A year later, his father died, starting a spiral of decline.
To live like this is to die
If it is already difficult to deal with the death of a parent, imagine if that parent is the most famous singer in the history of a country, the cameras follow you everywhere you go and analyze your every word. Imagine, moreover, that you are very shy and everything overcomes you. Shake a little in a cocktail shaker and enjoy the biggest hangover of your life.
The artist (or son of an artist, as you choose) had another opportunity to relaunch his musical career by singing in Viña del Mar, but decided to turn it down, in addition to many agreed albums that he never got to record because, according to the story, he never showed up on the day of signing the contracts. In 2020 he released a tribute to his father called, coincidentally, ‘Tributo’, where the voice was less trained than in the previous one: comparing himself to his father was risky, but he loses out on all fronts. It would be unfair, in any case, to say that the album ended with neither pain nor glory: it had much more pain than glory.
Camilo Blanes Jr, with eight million euros just inherited, was offered to do a series about his father (which he turned down) and an international musical (which he also turned down). Instead, he disappeared from the map completely until he started uploading disturbing videos to his Instagram, with a glass of whiskey in his hand and saying barbarities while his girlfriend tried to stop him: when his mother showed up at his home, her son believed he was “the chosen one” to save humanity from Satan’s clutches.
At the end of 2021, he would end up in the ICU of the Puerta de Hierro hospital for fifty days with a lung condition. The media, always on the lookout for blood to go biting, speculated that it was the consequence of three days of partying celebrating his birthday, but the family clarified that it was the consequence of an accident while riding a bike on a rainy day and that he had been “a month away from toxicity”. Finally a faithful follower of Ibai Llanos’ advice. Toxicity out, bad vibes out.
It’s a devil
A year later, in November 2022, she would announce to her mother and friends her sex change: from now on she would be known as Sheila Devil, which, frankly and at this point in the 21st century, is not “worrying”, as many media have defined it. It will be worrying things to choose in Devil’s life. The artist has deleted all her Instagram photos and has left only those of her current identity, uploading images at a dizzying pace since two weeks ago. Her mother believes that she has gone into “self-destruction mode” but the truth is that her new name makes more sense than it seems.
“Sheila” can be understood as “Music” in Irish, indicating that she is still thinking about her career and giving her father’s voice and legacy a future. Meanwhile, to give a supposed image of normality (which has made the family even more uneasy), Sheila took a skateboard ride near her home in Torrelodones indicating that she was feeling “wonderful”. Apparently, her mother found her at the end of April with Christina Rapado (with whom she has a very rare friendship) naked in the kitchen, with glass on the floor and the safe where she keeps her father’s valuables open. Wonderful-wonderful he may not be.
In her Instagram you can see her new look, in which she shows off her lack of teeth and, at least (that yes) she is smiling. Where is the life of Camilo Sesto’s daughter going to lead? Will there be a stop to this spiral? We fear that she has not yet reached the bottom.
