Gualberto Castro
Encyclopedia
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
Juan Gualberto day, (St. John Gualbert, in English) in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
) is of Mexican and Lebanese
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
ancestry from his father side of the family and French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Mexican descent from his mother's side, Gualberto is a Mexican singer-entertainer best known for singing with Los Hermanos Castro
Los Hermanos Castro
Los Hermanos Castro are a male singing quartet originated in Mexico City, Mexico in the mid 1950s.-The original group: "Los Panchitos":...
aka ("The Castro Brothers") and for hosting the television program La Carabina de Ambrosio
La Carabina de Ambrosio
-External links:*http://www.tvazteca.com/corporativo/prensa/boletin/44792.shtml*http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386165/...
. Gualberto is 2nd cousin to Daniela Castro
Daniela Castro
Daniela Castro is a telenovela actress.- Family :Daniela is a daughter of Javier Castro, who is one of the members of the original musical group Los Hermanos Castro...
, popular Mexican TV actress.
Early life
Castro began singing at an early age. He and his family, mother Julieta, father Antonio, and sister Julieta Jr., lived in the colonia Guerrero, Mexico City, Mexico; fortunately a singing teacher, Alejandro Algara, lived in the same building. “My father studied singing with the Algara; my father had a superior tenor voice,” said Castro. “In those days, opera was what was studied, but I chose romantic ballads because it was what my father sang and I began listening to his music very early in life,” Castro continued. Although Castro's father did not sing professionally, he wrote some of Castro's songs such as "Vanidosa" that Castro recorded on his smash hit "Que Mal Amada Estas" album. Even though Castro wanted to sing, he could not find a job as a singer. He began his artistic career as a backup dancer when he was 14 years old in the Teatro Blanquita, located in downtown Mexico City, Mexico. Castro's first cousins, Arturo, Javier and Jorge Castro had developed a singing group called The Castro Brothers. They invited Castro to join as a countertenorCountertenor
A countertenor is a male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of a contralto, mezzo-soprano, or a soprano, usually through use of falsetto, or far more rarely than normal, modal voice. A pre-pubescent male who has this ability is called a treble...
voice to harmonize with Jorge's superb tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
voice. The group sang in nightclubs and bars in Mexico City. An agent from New York heard the boys and contracted them to sing in New York City. Gualberto related: "when we got the contract to sing in New York, we thought we had become millionaires." However, when they discovered that living in New York was very expensive, "We were so poor," said Gualberto, that the four of us slept in one bed. Two of us slept with our heads at the foot of the bed and the other two of us slept with our heads at the head of the bed." In time, the Castro Brothers gained fame in the United States and began to tour the country. The quartet met with great success in Las Vegas Nevada, in more ways than one. Gualberto said: "We worked in a lounge that had showgirls. The girls would talk to us before they went on the stage, but they had nothing on their chests. We thought Las Vegas was wonderful."
Musically
The Castro Brothers were famous for their four part harmony with Gualberto’s countertenor / tenor voice often singing lead. Later, their first cousin, Benito Castro entered the group as a musician and a singer, but he gradually turned into a comedian like his late father, Arturo "el Bigoton" Castro. They recorded numerous albums; one of their most famous hits, “Yo Sin Ti”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WcNXqpnSJY written and arranged by Arturo Castro, became a popular song throughout Mexico and South America. Recently CBS has released a composite CD / DVD of Los Hermanos Castros singing and performing live filmed and recorded during the 1960s.When returning to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Los Hermanos Castro decided to go their separate ways, each successfully developing a career in music. Gualberto embarked on a solo singing career, recording one album a year and appearing in numerous night clubs, theaters, movies and television; he was a long time emcee for the La Carabina de Ambrosio
La Carabina de Ambrosio
-External links:*http://www.tvazteca.com/corporativo/prensa/boletin/44792.shtml*http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386165/...
a popular weekly television show during the early 1980s that co-starred the magician Beto "El Boticario" and dancer Gina Montes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROyC_VxW6VA. Castro has appeared on television, theaters and nightclubs with numerous entertainers such as Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, Paul Anka
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
, Veronica Castro
Verónica Castro
Verónica Castro is a Mexican actress, singer and television host. She is the mother of singer Cristian Castro and filmmaker Michelle Sáinz Castro and the sister of actress Beatriz Castro,and telenovela producer José Alberto Castro....
(no relation), Laura Zapata
Laura Zapata
Laura Zapata is a Mexican telenovela actress. She has acted in Televisa productions most of her life.- Family :...
, and many more. Castro entered and won the OTI (Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana
Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana
Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana or "Organization of Iberoamerican Television" is the former name of Organización de Telecomunicaciones Iberoamericanas , an organization of television networks in Latin America , Spain, and Portugal. Its mission is to foster relations between television...
)award twice once in 1975 for "La Felicidad"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK4Hq9mtvVY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcmfUH4P3WA written by Felipe Gill and has received numerous awards and honors from Mexico, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
and the United States. Most recently he received a lifetime award for singing and entertaining from the ANDA (Accociacion Nacional de Actores). On August 22, 2007, Gualberto celebrated 60 years as a singer / entertainer.
Controversial Album Cover
In 1980, Gualberto Castro’s mega song hit “Que Mal Amada Estas” by Roberto CantoralRoberto Cantoral
Roberto Cantoral Garcia was a Mexican composer, singer and songwriter. He was known for composing a string of hit Mexican songs, including El Triste, Al Final, La Barca and El Reloj...
, came out in an album with the same name as the hit. Gualberto and his wife designed the album cover with himself laying down between the shapely legs of dancers who stood in French cut leotards above him. The legs belonged to his wife, sister-in-law, and a friend of the family, who were all dancers. This was a take-off on Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
’s stage production publicity of “Sugar Babes.” The album cover caused scandal in the conservative Mexican record market so much so the album sold out quickly and the lead song “Que Mal Amada Estas” became a big hit for Gualberto. Ten years later, CBS, the publisher of the album changed the album cover to a genetic photograph without Gualberto’s image. To this day, it is unknown why CBS changed the image.
Vegetarianism
A long time vegetarian, Gualberto also follows a Macrobiotic dietMacrobiotic diet
A macrobiotic diet , from "macro" and "bios" , a dietary regimen which involves eating grains as a staple food supplemented with other foodstuffs such as local vegetables avoiding the use of highly processed or refined foods and most animal products...
. He maintains a strict lifestyle that entails no drinking alcohlic beverages, no coffee, meditation, exercise, and yoga.
Interview with Gualberto Castro
In a recent Television interview, interviewer Mario Pintor asked Gualberto Castro what he does to keep his singing voice intact after so many years of performances. Gualberto answered: “It is not magic to keep one’s voice, but with discipline. If you are a person who stays out late at night, drinks alcohol, smokes cigarettes, and carouses around, well, your singing voice will change tone, perhaps get graveled, and finally, you can’t sing. I use the paradigm of Tito GuízarTito Guízar
Federico Arturo Guízar Tolentino was a Mexican singer and actor. He was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico....
: he was 90 years old and he was still singing in the same key as when he was young. At 90 years old he still could sing opera because he was a disciplined person. The same with Don Pedro Vargas
Pedro Vargas
Pedro Vargas Mata was a Mexican singer and actor, from the golden age of Mexican cinema. He was known as the "Nightingale of the Americas".-Biography:...
, both of them died singing.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdTlBQNaopU