In America, the name might not mean much.
You’ll be lucky to find a handful of folks who can pronounce it correctly.
But in Mexico and the rest of Latin America, there’s hardly a bigger, more recognized name in music than Juan Gabriel, who is bringing his big name and big show to the Everett Events Center at 7 p.m. Sunday.
Gabriel, 56, will give his fans a 31/2-hour show that will feature 65 performers, including a mariachi band, a choir and dancer.
Some tickets are still available, but the show is nearing a sell-out. Ticket prices range from $45 to $120.
Gabriel’s career started with his first hit, “No Tengo Dinero,” (“I Don’t Have Money”) in 1971.
Thirty-five years later, his finances aren’t much of a concern.
Gabriel, one of the most significant singer-songwriters in Mexican music, has sold more than 30 million albums, has been nominated for six Grammys and was inducted into the Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame in 1995. He has also produced and written scores of successful releases for other Latino artists.
He scored hits in the 1970s with songs such as “Sera Manana” (“It Could Be Tomorrow”) and “Siempre En Mi Mente” (“Always On My Mind,” not the Willie Nelson song).
He returned in the mid-1980s with the biggest hit of his career, “Querida” (“My Dear”), and sprinkled hits throughout the 1990s.
Gabriel, whose real name is Alberto Aguilera Valadez, was raised in the border town of Juarez and was the youngest of 10 children, according to his biography on Billboard.com. While he’s developed into an international star, he has never lost touch with his impoverished roots, which is where he draws much of his inspiration.
His mother worked as a housekeeper, and he now owns the mansion in which she worked, the biography says.
“I compose songs with a lot of simplicity,” he said in an interview shortly after his Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame induction, “because my school has been the streets and people have been my books.”
Reporter Victor Balta: 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.
Juan Gabriel performs Sunday in Everett.
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