[4] She was born in Placetas, Las Villas, Cuba, to Spanish parents Antonia Audet and Isidro Portella.

[2] She started singing at the age of 14, while living in Cuba and performed at the Payret, Molino Rojo and Alhambra theaters.

[5] She had critics including clergy, who labeled her as “libidinous satan” in the Diario de la Marina, the Cuban newspaper.

[5] In 1915, an erotic novel about the life of Chelito was written by Joaquín Belda in the work "La Coquito";[6] which was later made into a 1977 film of the same name, released in Spain.

[5] She also owned and managed the Salón Madrid; the Hall Encomienda, which became, after a reform, the Teatro Nuevo; and the Kursaal that she acquired in 1919 and renamed the Chanteclair.