Almost a month after Juan Gabriel passed away, his best-kept secret has been unveiled: a legitimate biological son no one knew about. “El Divo de Juárez,” who passed away on August 28, 2016 from a heart attack, left behind four children with Laura Salas, whom he described as “la major amiga de mi vida” (the best friend of my life), although they were never married. Just recently, Primer Impacto’s Borja Voces discovered some clues that led him to a 26-year-old man, who turned out to be Juan Gabriel’s son, after confirming his identity through exhaustive investigation.
Voces sat down with him, and in an emotionally-charged conversation, the unknown son revealed the love he received from his father as well as the pain he experienced because of his imposed anonymity. A birth certificate, a property title, photos of father and son together, hand-written notes from the superstar, and messages sent and received by both are among the documents that “Primer Impacto” viewers will see as proof that this young man is, in fact, Juan Gabriel’s legitimate son.
The world-exclusive interview will air in “Primer Impacto” on Monday, September 26, 2016 at 4:55 p.m. ET/PT (5:55 p.m. Central) on the Univision Network.
About Juan Gabriel
Alberto Aguilera Valadez, known artistically as Juan Gabriel was born on January 7, 1950 on Cinco de Mayo Street, now known as Juan Gabriel Street, in the small town of Parácuaro, Michoacán. He was the youngest of 10 siblings. At the age of 5 Juan Gabriel began writing songs and working on his voice. Trying to pursue his dreams of making it in the music business, he traveled to different Mexican cities when he was just a young boy. Eventually, he began performing in local nightclubs and television using the stage name Adán Luna.
One of his first breakthroughs came when he finally got the opportunity to sing at the nightclub El Noa Noa, becoming a local sensation and gaining many fans within Ciudad Juárez. However, Juan Gabriel wasn’t happy with just being a local performer, so he left for Mexico City where he began working part-time for RCA, writing the chorus of songs for many established artists. After being rejected by various recording companies, Juan Gabriel returned to Ciudad Juárez and signed his first performing contract at the Malibu nightclub.
At the age of 21, he signed a recording contract with RCA Records after officially changing his name to Juan Gabriel (Juan, in honor of Juan Contreras his teacher and mentor; and the surname of Gabriel, in honor of his own father). Over the next fifteen years, Juan Gabriel's fame grew as he recorded 15 albums, sold over 20 million records and made his acting debut in 1975 in the film Nobleza Ranchera. He wrote and recorded over 1000 songs in a variety of music genres.
Juan Gabriel established himself as Mexico's leading commercial singer-songwriter, penning in many diverse styles such as rancheras with mariachi, ballads, pop, rock, disco, with an incredible string of hits for himself and for leading Latin singers including Angélica María, Gualberto Castro, Aida Cuevas, Enriqueta Jiménez, Lucha Villa, Ana Gabriel, Lorenzo Antonio, and international stars José José, Luis Miguel and Rocío Dúrcal.
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