Juan Gabriel, Mexican superstar singer, dead at 66

Juan Gabriel, the prolific Latin American music icon, died of natural causes in Santa Monica, California, on Sunday morning, Los Angeles County Coroner spokeswoman Selena Barros said.

Alberto Aguilera Valadez, who used the stage name Juan Gabriel, “died at 11.30 local time of a heart attack”, Televisa reported. “When I heard this song, I swear I saw lights, I saw clarity”, he said.

Singer Marc Anthony tweeted that Gabriel was his idol and included lyrics to a song the two sang together, “Yo Te Recuerdo”. “That was it. I never recorded freestyle again”.

“When I was 15, all I knew was that I had to be somebody and that I could be somebody. I’m glad it paid off”.

He traveled to Mexico City as a teenager and slept on the streets and in train stations while trying to break into the music business.

He went to school only until fifth grade after he escaped the orphanage, where he met music teacher and mentor Juan Contreras. In 1990, he became the first commercial singer to hold a concert at Mexico City’s Palace of Fine Arts, until then reserved just for classical musicians. It’s probably been more than 20 years since these records have been played, but today Gabriel’s 1972 “No Tengo Dinero” album and his 1977 album “Siempre en Mi Mente” will fill my home with the classic pop, rock and ballads meant to be heard with pops, hisses and all.

“More leaders than any other artist in that span of time”, according to Billboard.

His former personal secretary, Joaquin Munoz, claimed they were a gay couple at one point in the book “Juan Gabriel and I”.

“Gabriel ended the spectacular with his iconic song ‘El noa noa, ‘ getting the entire audience on their feet and dancing along with him and his dancers”, reads Billboard’s review of the concert. “Don’t believe it. Juan Gabriel was singular”.