The death of the well-known Mexican singer Juan Gabriel causes an outpouring of grief in Mexico. Juan Gabriel was more than just a singer and songwriter for the hundreds of fans who flooded Mexico City's Plaza Garibaldi to wish him a final goodbye on Monday, August 29.
He was a legend, an artist who marked an era in people's lives. Every major Mexican newspaper had news of his Sunday death on its front page.
The singer, was born Jan. 7, 1950, wrote his very first song at age 13 and went on to compose more than 1,500 songs for not only himself, but several other artists.
The youngest of 10 children, he rose from rags to riches. He was born in the western state of Michoacán. His father, Gabriel Aguilera, was a farmer and his mother, Victoria Valadez, a housewife. The family lost contact with his father after he was taken to a psychiatric hospital in Mexico City when Juan Gabriel was still a baby. Unable to support her children, his mother moved the family to the border city of Ciudad Juárez, where she worked as a maid. His mother eventually sent him to an orphanage because she was unable to care for him.
He signed his first record contract in 1971 and had his first big hit with "No Tengo Dinero" ("I Don't Have Money"), according to his biography by Mexico's Society of Music Authors and Composers.
Juan Gabriel would rarely give interviews, but when he avoided talking about his private life.
In Ciudad Juárez, where Juan Gabriel grew up, dozens of people gathered outside a house he owned to offer flowers, candles and sing his songs.
Juan Gabriel was Mexico's leading singer-songwriter and top-selling artist. His bouncy mariachi tunes and ballads about love and heartbreak became hymns throughout Latin America and Spain as well as with Spanish speakers in the United States.
Juan Gabriel, whose real name was Alberto Aguilera Valadez, was well known for wearing flamboyant outfits and jackets that were covered in sequins or dress in silk outfits of bright colors like hot pink, turquoise blue or canary yellow.
His concerts would fill up auditoriums, including New York's Madison Square Garden and the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. His last concert was Friday night at the Forum in Inglewood, California. He had been scheduled to perform Sunday in El Paso, Texas.
He was a Mexican music icon and he will forever be missed.
