Juan Gabriel
Singer Born: January 7, 1950; Died: August 28, 2016 JUANGabriel, who has died aged 66, was known as the Mexican Elvis, a singer who sold more than 100 million albums and had his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Superficially, the songs he wrote and performed were sentimental ballads about love and heartbreak, but his popularity in Mexico is difficult to overstate. Spanning the class and race divides, he nevertheless had a particular appeal among working class Mexicans who recognised him as someone self-made from humble beginnings. Widely thought to be gay, with his flamboyant, sequinned mariachi outfits, often in flaming red, pink or gold, he never confirmed this – except tangentially in interviews. “You don’t need to ask about what should be obvious”, he told one questioner.
However he had four children – three reportedly adopted and the fourth To place your notice in Family Announcements Monday - Friday 9.00am -5.00pm fathered with a close female friend. Other reports suggest all four were his biological offspring with the same woman whom he described as the “best friend in my life”. Notoriously reluctant to talk about his private life, he would not name her.
He was born Alberto Aguilera, the youngest of 10 children of farmworkers Gabriel Aguilera Rodriguez and Victoria Valadez Rojas, in Michoacán, Mexico, in January 1950, but was placed in a children’s home after his mother could not cope, his father having been sent to a mental health facility.
He ran away from the orphanage in his teens and began to write music, sustaining himself by street vending and singing in bars, first in the notorious Ciudad Juarez, on the Texan border and later in Mexico City, where he was jailed for a year, for stealing a guitar – a crime of which he said he was innocent. He was able to release his first album at the age of 21, having been “discovered” by another much-loved Mexican singer, Enriqueta Jimenez.
He became a legendary performer and recording artist, writing more than 1,500 songs, including Querida (Beloved), Yo No Nací Para Amar (I was not born to love) and No Tengo Dinero (I have no money). One of his biggest hits, Amor Eterno, was written for his mother, although she had played little part in his life and died in 1988.
A dispute with his publishers prevented him from releasing any albums towards the end of the 1980s and early 1990s, but he returned in better form than ever and established his dominance with Mariachi albums recorded with symphony orchestras, new material and duets with other leading Mexican artists while his work was increasingly covered by others. He wrote hit songs for other performers, including Angelica Maria, Aida Cuevas, Lorenzo Antonio, and Rocio Durcal.
At the time of his death he was as popular as ever, with millions of fans and had just played to 17,000 fans in Los Angeles, where he had made his home.
His death from a heart attack cut short a planned lengthy American tour, Mexico is Everything. The stage set included four thrones.
In his adopted US home, he was six times nominated for a Grammy and inducted into the Latin Music Hall of Fame in 1996.
He is survived by his four children, Jean, Hans, Ivan, and Joan, and his grandchildren. Telephone 0141-302 6000 or by e-mail at announcements@heraldandtimes.co.uk