Chucho Avellanet

Avellanet would soon join the United Artists record label, making what would be his only attempt at a cross-over into the American pop genre, with the album In a Little Spanish Town. His fourteen other records under that label were recorded in Spanish. In 1965, under United Artist, he recorded the album titled Chucho Avellanet Baladas Spanish Sounds in Country Music produced by LeRoy Holmes. This album featured a choice sampling of the better tunes that had emerged from the world of country and Western music at the time including It Makes No Difference Now (No Me Importa) by Jimmy Davis, and Sinceridad ("Are you Sincere?") by Wayne Walker/Gil Veda.

1972 was a very eventful year for Avellanet, who represented his country finishing in fourth place at that year's Festival OTI in Spain. Then, Avellanet made history by becoming the first Hispanic to perform at the Miss Universe contest, held that year in the Puerto Rican beach town of Dorado.

Chucho Avellanet diversified, and by the 1980s, he was as known for his acting as he was for his singing. Having signed up with Canal 2, he was able to explore his ability both in the show hosting and acting fields when he hosted, alongside Lissette Alvarez, the popular El Show de Chucho y Lissette. He also hosted Senoras y Senores and Con Chucho Avellanet before finally settling on El Show de Chucho. Avellanet also performed comedy on El Show de Chucho, participating in the show's comedy segment. In one particularly memorable comic chapter, he screamed, May the roof fall on us if I'm lying! and the roof then "crashed down" on him and his guests. He also participated, with Lissette, in a famous Schaefer Beer commercial, where he sang the jingle Cerveza Schaefer es la mejor cuando se toma mas de una (Schaefer is the one beer to have when you're having more than one). During the filming of the commercial, the boat they were on was rocked by a submarine of the United States Navy passing below it; the experience made a lasting impression on him, which years later led him to support the cause of the people of Vieques in their demands to have the Navy vacate their bombing range on Vieques and Culebra.

One of Avellanet's biggest international hits during the decade of the '80s came in his song Sera varon, sera mujer? (Will It Be a Boy, Will It Be a Girl?), where he explored the questions couples expecting a baby might ask themselves. This song coincided with his wife's pregnancy, and in his case, his baby turned out to be a boy. He was by then married to his second wife, Venezuelan actress Marisela Berti, whom he later also divorced.

In 1988, Avellanet came back to the headlines, but not precisely because of his own, personal success: His nephew Roberto Alejandro Avellanet Negrón was chosen as the newest member of Menudo. Roberto followed in his uncle's footsteps, becoming a major teen-idol in Puerto Rico within months of his joining the teenaged boy band.

On stage in San Juan during the 1980s, Avellanet appeared as "El Lince" in the musical "La Verdadera Historia de Pedro Navaja", a Caribbean-set adaptation of "The Beggar's Opera", and "Father Silvestre" in the Puerto Rican production of "El Diluvio que Viene" (the Spanish-version of the Italian musical "Aggiungi un posto a tavola"). He returned to the theater in Puerto Rico in 2014, in a Spanish-language production of "Shear Madness" ("Con los Pelos de Punta")

In 1989 he starred in "Papi", a prime-time sitcom on "WAPA-TV", Puerto Rico's Channel 4, in which he played the superintendent of a condominium with eccentric residents. He sang the show's intro theme song called "Yo Soy Como Soy" ("That's Who I am"). He returned to sitcoms in 2012 with "Papi en Casa ("Dad at Home"), on "WLII-TV", Channel 11, Puerto Rico's "Univision" affiliate, in which he played a grandfather.

In 1994, Avellanet, Lucecita Benítez and Lissette Alvarez rejoined forces for a one-night-only concert.

In 2010, Avellanet performed at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, held in Mayagüez. Later in the year he publicly announced that he was undergoing chemotherapy for treating Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Stating that his prognosis is good, he nevertheless asked for privacy while undergoing treatment.