In which country did the song "Bésame mucho" originate?

"Bésame Mucho" is one of the most popular songs of the 20th century and has been called the "Gold Standard" of romantic music. It was written in 1932 by a Mexican songwriter who was just 16 years old.

Consuelo Velázquez Torres (1916 - 2005) – popularly known as Consuelito Velázquez -- was born in Ciudad Guzmán, Mexico, the youngest of five sisters. She grew up in Guadalajara and displayed an early musical talent, playing the piano when she was four and performing in public when she was six. At the age of eleven, she moved to Mexico City to study at the National Conservatory of Music.

Consuelito started her professional career as a concert pianist in 1938, performing at the Palacio de Bellas Artes and on the Mexican broadcasting station XEQ Radio. She used a male pseudonym for her own works, but Mariano Rivera Conde, the artistic director of the radio station, pushed her to admit she was the author of the songs. They married six years later.

"Bésame Mucho" – meaning "Kiss me a lot" -- had its origins in the young Consuelo Velázquez's own vision of romantic love: it was inspired by the sight of a couple kissing in the street. The convent-educated Consuelito wrote it even though at the time she had never been kissed, and had heard that kissing was considered a sin. The song debuted eight years after it was written and was first recorded in 1941 by Emilio Tuero. It was recognized in 1999 as the most recorded and covered song in Spanish of all time.