El siete de enero/January 7th
¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Juan Gabriel (Alberto Aguilera Valadez)! (1950-2016)
"Music is mankind's way of thanking the universe for letting us be here." -Juan Gabriel
A Mexican singer, songwriter, and actor, and "the actual king of Latin pop" who was idolized by
younger performers such as Marc Anthony, Juan Gabriel was adored by fans worldwide. He put out some 2,000 songs during his lifetime and sold out multiple concerts. He was not always as well-known by English-language speakers in the U.S., however, and Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's wonderful 1999 profile of him in the L.A. Times (updated when he died in 2016 -- click HERE to read) includes a story about a West Hollywood antique shop owner asking him and his manager to leave, unaware of the huge amount of money they were about to spend. And at the Malibu restaurant where Rodriguez met Juan Gabriel for their interview, the hostess and waiter did not recognize him, but the Mexican busboy dropped his tray "and his jaw" and ran into the kitchen to tell his friends who was there. Juan Gabriel, who was widely assumed to be gay but never publicly came out, was also an icon in the LGBTQ community, with one writer reflecting "He taught me I could glitter and be respected, admired, celebrated ... even loved!" (Click HERE to read what other Latinx LGBTQ writers say about Juan Gabriel's impact on their lives). Juan Gabriel's life also reads like a telenovela. The youngest of ten children, he was raised in an orphanage in Juárez since the age of 4 because his mother could not afford to take care of him. At the age of 14, Juan Gabriel "escaped" to try to reconnect with his mother and began selling food on the street. He also sang. While not successful at first, with much perseverance (and many twists and turns - really, read the L.A. Times article above- it's fascinating!), he eventually had his first hit, No Tengo Dinero (click HERE to listen). With the money he made, he bought his mother a house in the U.S. And one of his biggest hits, Amor Eterno, was a tribute he wrote to her. He eventually made so much money that he bought real estate around the world, including a building in Juárez to house Semjase, the music school and "albergue infantil" for children of few resources or those who had lost their parents. He paid the salary of the 50+ full-time employees who worked there (Click HERE to read more (in Spanish), click HERE to see a video on the school (in Spanish)). When Juan Gabriel died of natural causes in his home in Santa Monica in August of 2016, writer Adrian Florido said, "This is the biggest loss in Mexican music since Selena. He was universally beloved. There is no one in Mexico who isn't a fan" (click HERE to read). Juan Gabriel was posthumously awarded two Latin Grammys for his album Los Dúo, Vol.2. It was his 29th studio album.
For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.
"Music is mankind's way of thanking the universe for letting us be here." -Juan Gabriel
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Photo from Billboard's write-up on Juan Gabriel's cover
of Creedence Clearwater's Have You Ever Seen
The Rain?(Gracias al sol) several months
before his death.
|
A Mexican singer, songwriter, and actor, and "the actual king of Latin pop" who was idolized by
younger performers such as Marc Anthony, Juan Gabriel was adored by fans worldwide. He put out some 2,000 songs during his lifetime and sold out multiple concerts. He was not always as well-known by English-language speakers in the U.S., however, and Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's wonderful 1999 profile of him in the L.A. Times (updated when he died in 2016 -- click HERE to read) includes a story about a West Hollywood antique shop owner asking him and his manager to leave, unaware of the huge amount of money they were about to spend. And at the Malibu restaurant where Rodriguez met Juan Gabriel for their interview, the hostess and waiter did not recognize him, but the Mexican busboy dropped his tray "and his jaw" and ran into the kitchen to tell his friends who was there. Juan Gabriel, who was widely assumed to be gay but never publicly came out, was also an icon in the LGBTQ community, with one writer reflecting "He taught me I could glitter and be respected, admired, celebrated ... even loved!" (Click HERE to read what other Latinx LGBTQ writers say about Juan Gabriel's impact on their lives). Juan Gabriel's life also reads like a telenovela. The youngest of ten children, he was raised in an orphanage in Juárez since the age of 4 because his mother could not afford to take care of him. At the age of 14, Juan Gabriel "escaped" to try to reconnect with his mother and began selling food on the street. He also sang. While not successful at first, with much perseverance (and many twists and turns - really, read the L.A. Times article above- it's fascinating!), he eventually had his first hit, No Tengo Dinero (click HERE to listen). With the money he made, he bought his mother a house in the U.S. And one of his biggest hits, Amor Eterno, was a tribute he wrote to her. He eventually made so much money that he bought real estate around the world, including a building in Juárez to house Semjase, the music school and "albergue infantil" for children of few resources or those who had lost their parents. He paid the salary of the 50+ full-time employees who worked there (Click HERE to read more (in Spanish), click HERE to see a video on the school (in Spanish)). When Juan Gabriel died of natural causes in his home in Santa Monica in August of 2016, writer Adrian Florido said, "This is the biggest loss in Mexican music since Selena. He was universally beloved. There is no one in Mexico who isn't a fan" (click HERE to read). Juan Gabriel was posthumously awarded two Latin Grammys for his album Los Dúo, Vol.2. It was his 29th studio album.
For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.
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