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Artist
Juan Gabriel
12+ albums
juan gabrielmexicomariachilatinranchera
about
Juan Gabriel (Alberto Aguilera Valadez, January 7, 1950 – August 28, 2016) was a Mexican singer and songwriter. Also called El Divo de Juárez, Gabriel was known for his flamboyant style and broke barriers within the Latin music market. With sales of more than 100 million albums, Gabriel was Mexico's top selling artist. Gabriel's album, Recuerdos, Vol. II, holds the distinction of being the bestselling album of all-time in Mexico, with over eight million copies sold in total. During his career he wrote around 1,800 songs. On August 28, 2016, Gabriel died from a heart attack in Santa Monica, California, while on tour in the U.S. Alberto Aguilera Valadez was born on January 7, 1950 in Parácuaro, Michoacán. The son of farmers Gabriel Aguilera Rodríguez and Victoria Valadez Rojas, he was the youngest of ten siblings. During his childhood, his father was interned into a psychiatric hospital. Due to this, his mother moved to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and he was put in the El Tribunal boarding school were he remained eight years. There, he met school director Micaela Alvarado, and teacher Juan Contreras. Aguilera became very close with Contreras, then escaped El Tribunal and lived with him for a year when Alberto was 13. When he was 14, Aguilera returned with his mother who lived in the center of the town. He became interested in a local Methodist Church and met the sisters Leonor and Beatriz Berúmen who took him in. There he sang in the choir and helped by cleaning the church. I
