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Rating: 
Summary: A Worthy Purchase
Review: "Querido Alberto" is the authorized biography of the legendary Mexican singer/songwriter Juan Gabriel. Written by Gabriel's longtime friend and musical arranger Eduardo Magallanes, the book gives the reader a view into the life of the kid who grew up in the streets of Chihuahua, Mexico as Alberto Aguilera Valadez through the 1995 publication date.Magallanes absorbs the reader immediately by opening the biography with a description of Gabriel's benefit performance at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City in 1990, the concert that became famous through audio and video sales. Magallanes then covers the life of Gabriel in short segments relating more to significance than chronology. Magallanes addresses Gabriel's early life: the mysterious disappearance of his father three months after Gabriel's birth on January 7, 1950; the mother for whom he wrote "Amor Eterno"; the sister who lies in a coma, a state she has been in for many years; the various people who took him in off the streets and how they influenced him and his music; in essence, the steps through which Alberto Aguilera Valadez become the international pop singer known as Juan (named after a teacher) Gabriel (named after his father). The book also includes a few chapters on Gabriel's personal life as an adult, a subject about which Gabriel is intensely private, particularly his near-30-year relationship with Laura Salas Campa and their four sons. The book is written in Spanish but at such a level that people with a limited Spanish reading ability would be able to understand the main ideas. It includes extensive quotes by Gabriel, lyrics to many of his songs and tributes to Gabriel by Lola Beltran, Lucha Villa and other Gabriel contemporaries. The photographs are perhaps the most intriguing part of the book. More than 100 captioned pictures show the singer's transformation from Alberto Aguilera Valadez, the poor street kid, to Juan Gabriel, the superstar. All the photos are black and white. No matter. Some allow a glimpse into Gabriel's private life. There are several pictures of his houses, his sons as young children, his partner Laura Salas and there's even one of his German shepherd dog, the breed he still keeps today. This is a professionally written book that doesn't waste the reader's time on smutty tabloid material. It is a worthy purchase.
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