Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said in a tweet: “We lament the death of Juan Gabriel, one of the biggest musical icons of our country”.
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“My condolences to your family and friends”.
Juan Gabriel wrote many hits for himself and for leading Latin singers including Angelica Maria, Aida Cuevas, Lorenzo Antonio, Jose Jose, Luis Miguel and Rocio Durcal.
Juan Gabriel was in middle of a tour in support of an album of duets he released this year.
Billboard magazine inducted him into the Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame 1996.
The singer, who was born January 7, 1950, wrote his first song at age 13 and went on to compose more than 1,500 songs.
He also produced albums for Lola Beltrán, Dúrcal, Villa, and Paul Anka.
Gabriel was born in poverty in Michoacan, one of ten children.
For more than four decades, Gabriel, whose real name was Alberto Aguilera Valadez, presided over the world of Latin pop music as one of its most colorful and successful characters. 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.
Javier Gonzalez Mocken, the mayor of the northern city of Ciudad Juarez – where the singer and composer grew up and earned his popular nickname “El Divo de Juarez” – announced that preparations are underway to pay homage to the Mexican icon. Unable to care for him, she sent him to an orphanage. “Her love comes through all the mothers of Mexico”.
Gabriel left school at fifth grade and went to Mexico City to try to break into music. The teenager ended up in jail, accused of robbery, but the jail director and his wife helped free him. “So I exploited the only thing I knew, which was singing and songwriting”, he told the L.A. Times.
Gabriel landed a record contract after his 1971 hit song, “No Tengo Dinero”. The singer denied the claim.
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Others showed off Juan Gabriel’s signature moves. When he did, he avoided talking about his private life.
