Elena Del Rubio; Member of Kitschy Singing Triplets

Elena Del Rubio, a member of the Del Rubio Triplets, a 1950s sister act that attracted a camp following in the 1980s, died Monday at her San Pedro home after a short battle with cancer. She was believed to be in her 70s.

Del Rubio is survived by her sister, Milly. The group stopped performing in 1996, the year Eadie Del Rubio, the third member of the act, died.

Known as “3 Gals, 3 Guitars,” the trio performed for decades in a circuit that ran from nightclubs to nursing homes.

Strumming acoustic guitars and wearing their trademark leotards, hot pants and white go-go boots, they became musical queens of kitsch, belting out such favorites as “La Bamba,” “Chain of Fools” and “In-a-Gadda-da-Vida”--some of the 800 songs in their repertoire.

The Del Rubios grew up in Panama and Washington, D.C. Their father, whose heritage was Scottish, English and Spanish, was an attorney with an international practice who took his daughters to Los Angeles for a visit when they were 14. Star-struck, the triplets returned when they were 17, dyed their hair blond and taught themselves to sing.

They dropped their real last name, Boyd, for Rubio, which means “blond” in Spanish, and added “Del” because they thought it sounded prettier and began playing nightclubs and hotels from Los Angeles to Australia. Elena Del Rubio, the second-born, always stood in the middle, flanked by firstborn Milly on her right and Eadie.

Although never attaining the popularity of other sister acts of the 1950s, they eventually recorded four albums. In the 1960s, when their mother lay dying in a hospital, they gathered around her bedside and serenaded her with “Stardust” and other melodies. The a cappella performance caused such a stir on the hospital floor that the nurses asked them to sing for other patients.

Deeply religious, the Del Rubio sisters believed that God had a new mission--and venue--for them: hospitals and nursing homes. Over the next two decades they took their high-energy act to the elderly and ill throughout Southern California, usually performing at no charge.

In 1987, they were discovered by Grammy-winning songwriter Allee Willis, who hired them to entertain at a party where they sang with the Pointer Sisters. That appearance launched them into another world, performing at hip venues such as the Roxy, Club Lingerie and Stock Exchange, as well as on such shows as “Late Night With David Letterman.”

The sisters shared a triple-sized mobile home in San Pedro. They never married, believing that husbands would only try to undermine their devotion to their singing careers and to each other.

“They [husbands] want a home and children and so forth,” Elena Del Rubio once said, “and we really don’t want that. We want our music really to come first, until we feel we’ve had enough.”

Funeral services will be Monday at 9 a.m. at Holy Cross Cemetery, 5835 W. Slauson, Culver City. Contributions may be made to Torrance Memorial Home Health and Hospice.