Javier Solis | |
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Javier Solís
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Background information | |
Birth name | Gabriel Siria Levario |
Also known as | El Rey del Bolero Ranchero, Javier Luquín |
Born |
Nogales, Sonora, México |
1 September 1931
Died | 19 April 1966 Mexico City, México |
(aged 34)
Genres | Bolero, ranchera, corrido, mariachi |
Occupation(s) | Singer, actor |
Years active | 1950−1966 |
Javier Solís (1 September 1931 – 19 April 1966) was a popular Mexican singer of boleros and rancheras as well as a movie actor.
Javier Solís, born Gabriel Siria Levario, was the first of three children of Francisco Siria Mora, a baker/butcher, and Juana Levario Plata, a trader. Juana had a stall at a public market and as her spouse had allegedly abandoned her, she had little time save for work. After a time, she decided to leave her son at the household of his uncle Valentín Levario Plata and his wife, Ángela López Martínez, whom Gabriel considered his real parents.
Siria had to drop out of school before his teens to support his family, after the death of his aunt Angela. Due to his aunt's death Gabriel only completed the first five years of primary school in Tacubaya in Mexico City, where he used to participate in singing contests. After dropping out of school he worked collecting bones and glass. Later he worked in a supermarket transporting merchandise. He worked as a baker, a butcher, a carpenters helper and a car washer. In his spare time, he trained as an amateur boxer, with aspirations of going professional, but after suffering a few defeats, he was urged to work at something "more decent".
Siria began singing in competitions under the pseudonym of "Javier Luquín" in which the winner would be awarded a new pair of shoes; he was eventually banned from participating because he so dominated the competition. At that time he was working as a butcher, and sang while he worked. His boss, David Lara Ríos, heard him and was so impressed with his talent that he urged Siria to dedicate himself to his music and recommended him to a voice coach, even paying for singing lessons with Noé Quintero.
At age 16, Siria went to Puebla to sing with the Mariachi Metepec, but he did not get his first professional break until two years later when Julito Rodriguez and Alfredo Gil of the famous singing trio, Los Panchos, discovered him and took him to audition at CBS Records. There in 1950, he signed a contract and recorded his first album. He was singing at the same time at the Teatro Lirico in Mexico City when he met dancer Blanca Estela Saenz who would later become his wife. His first hit, "Llorarás", came two years later, and it was his then-producer Felipe Valdes Leal who gave Siria his stage name, "Javier Solís".