Born in Santiago, Chile as the son of Clarisa Sandoval Navarrete and Nicanor Parra Parra, uncle Roberto was the fifth son in the Parra Sandoval family, after siblings Nicanor, Hilda, Violeta and Eduardo, and born before Caupolicán, Elba, Lautaro and Óscar.
He died in Santiago at age 73. Early times
His first steps in music were precipitated by the early death of his father. In 1935, when he was fourteen years old, Roberto started to work as a guitar player in several circuses, and cabarets, first in southern Chile.
He sporadically worked in several other jobs: on Valparaíso"s dry-docks, as a paperboy, shoeshiner, welder, mechanic helper, carpenter, and the owner of a furniture shop, among others
San Antonio"s cabarets and Louisiana Negra Ester
In September 1957, he arrived for the first time in the Chilean port of San Antonio, where he was hired to sing with the orchestra of the cabaret Luces del Puerto. In the boite Río de Janeiro, he met Louisiana Negra Ester, a prostitute and performer of the boite.
They started a sentimental relationship that was immortalized in his book Las décimas de la Negra Ester, a poetry book written in décimas. Andrés Pérez Araya, director of the theater company Gran Circo Teatro, later adapted Louisiana Negra Ester for the stage.
The stage adaptation became a milestone in Chilean theater.
