Saul Blanch

Saul Blanch was born in Buenos Aires on 8 September 1951. He began singing in rock bands in the city in the early 1970s, and in his early years sang in chest voice before developing the high falsetto style for which he became known.

In the mid 1970s Blanch became the singer of Plus, one of the pioneering bands of Argentine hard rock. Plus recorded No pisar el infinito for the TK label in 1976 and the album Plus for RCA Victor in 1978, which BMG reissued in 1996 under the title Melancolica muchacha. After a tour that took the band to Colombia and the United States, Plus recorded Escuela de rock 'n' roll in 1981, by then without the original guitarist Julio Saez.

After Plus split up, Blanch sang with WC, with Julio Morano, Sergio Berdichevsky and Guillermo Sanchez, which recorded only demos, and briefly with Heroes alongside the guitarist Julio Soto. The guitarist Walter Giardino and drummer Gustavo "Turco" Andino then brought him into a new band formed from members of Punto Rojo and WC. Named Rata Blanca, it made its live debut in 1987 at the Luz y Fuerza theatre in Buenos Aires.

Blanch had stepped away from the group, but when Rata Blanca could not find a suitable singer for its first recording he was called back and sang every track on the album Rata Blanca (1988). The record became a landmark of Argentine heavy metal, with songs including "El sueno de la gitana", "Chico callejero", "Rompe el hechizo" and "Solo para amarte", whose lyrics he wrote. He left the band for good after its release and was replaced by Adrian Barilari.

As a solo artist he released Fiel a sus fieles in 1990, presented at the Arlequines theatre in Buenos Aires and reissued on CD in 2005 with an extra song, and Refugiado in 2006 under the name Saul Blanch Revancha, recorded at Virtual Estudio. In 2013 he reunited with his former Rata Blanca bandmates for concerts celebrating the band's 25th anniversary, and on 26, 28 and 29 March 2026 he was a special guest at Rata Blanca's shows at the Teatro Flores, which proved to be his last live appearances.

Blanch kept his private life largely out of the public eye. Reports of his death said his family wished to keep their farewell private.

Saul Blanch died in Buenos Aires in October 2026, aged 75, after spending several weeks seriously ill in intensive care. His death was confirmed on Wednesday 21 October 2026 by the specialist music journalist Cesar Fuentes Rodriguez, who wrote that Plus, Rata Blanca and his solo career were milestones of a voice that had opened and marked the way. Infobae and other Argentine outlets reported that he died that day; Spanish Wikipedia gives the evening of 20 October. The cause of death has not been made public.

Fuentes Rodriguez said the family did not want publicity and that there would be no wake: "Se fue como quiso. Todo rock" (He went the way he wanted. All rock). Adrian Barilari, who succeeded him in Rata Blanca, wrote on Instagram that he would always remember him and thanked him for the legacy they had shared on several stages.

Blanch is remembered as one of the pioneering voices of Argentine hard rock and heavy metal. His work with Plus in the 1970s helped open the way for the genre in Argentina, and his recording of Rata Blanca's first album, which included songs that remain part of the band's repertoire, tied his name permanently to the history of Argentine metal.