Gabriel González from the group Gabrielito Y La Verdad has been kind enough to speak exclusively with International Salsa Magazine and me, Karina García, about his beginnings, bands, and current career. The composer, actor, and musician gave us some of his time to address the most important issues concerning his successful career and everything that surrounds it, for which we are extremely grateful.
How Gabriel started to become interested in music
Gabriel was born and raised in Los Angeles, where he took his first steps towards what would become his lifelong vocation. Since his parents were Mexican immigrants, it was not uncommon for him to listen to rancheras, huapango, boleros, son jalisciense, and other genres typical of that country.
He liked music so much that he began participating in contests at “El Mercadito,” a place located east of Los Angeles, where amateur concerts and all kinds of musical events were held. After his father sang there several times, he told him he wanted to do the same, and that is how he began entertaining wider audiences with his voice.
Years later, after his passion for music was being shaped and getting more serious, he contacted his uncle, who was a promoter, and took him with him to Mexico to get some acting work in movies. This means that his artistic career was not just limited to singing but also to acting, but at some point, both areas would end up mixing.
It should be noted that his work as an actor made him stay in Mexico for several years, so he shared with many great actors of the time who were also singers, such as Yolanda del Río, Federico Villa, David Reynoso, Lucha Villa, and many more.
Upon returning to California, he experienced a significant culture impact. He realized that he was not Mexican enough for Mexicans nor American enough for Americans. This double identity made it much easier for him to cross cultural and musical boundaries, so from playing ranchera, huapango, and son jalisciense, he was given a chance to play other styles such as son montuno, which for Gabriel is the basis of salsa and much of Latin music.
Gabriel’s professional beginnings in music
Gabriel tells us that, during a huge part of his career, he worked as a solo artist, but he went on to collaborate with several groups and one of them was the Mexican band Quetzal, which specializes in playing Chicano rock and son jarocho. His sister Martha González was the lead singer, so he was able to work with them on and off for about 20 years. He describes his time with Quetzal as a very nice period in which he learned a lot and was even blessed to win a Grammy, but everything has an end, so he went ahead and worked with many other bands in the Los Angeles salsa scene.
In fact, today he is a member of Boogaloo Assassins and has been playing with them since 2015, while also having his own project, which he named Gabrielito Y La Verdad.
Gabrielito Y La Verdad
After all experience gained so far, Gabriel decided to form his own group Gabrielito Y La Verdad, with which he had his first big hit “Oye Muñeca,” released around 2019. Since the project began, the artist has had the same keyboardist and pianist, but the rest of the musicians have come and gone over the years, as it is not easy to maintain a cohesive musical group for a long time.
In fact, he usually has a list of musicians he can call, and their presence at an event depends almost entirely on their availability and ability to read sheet music. Gabriel often works with the same musicians Jimmy Bosch uses, so when the Puerto Rican travels to Los Angeles, Gabriel knows he can count on them if an event comes up. He also often uses some of Jerry Rivera’s musicians and those of many other exponents of the genre.
Facets additional to singing
In addition to being a singer and film actor, Gabriel has also participated in commercials and done a little musical theater, since the condition of being an artist forces you to learn a little about everything. Being still very young, he participated in the film ”Mojado de Nacimiento” alongside La Sonora Santanera.
One of those memorable experiences was his participation in the second national tour of the musical ”In The Heights” with Lin-Manuel Miranda. It was during this tour that Gabriel learned that he had won a Grammy with the band Quetzal. The news came during a bus trip, making it clear that he experienced several of these facets at the same time without any problems.
More recently, he has served as composer of several of Gabrielito Y La Verdad’s songs in collaboration with pianist Matt Amper, who is also actively involved in the creation of the group’s original songs.
Collaborations with other artists
Gabriel has shared the stage and collaborated with big names in the industry like Bruno Mars, “El Divo de Juarez” Juan Gabriel, Los Van Van, Silk Sonic, and many others. Similarly, during his acting career, Gabriel also met many great actors of the time with whom he shot scenes during the day, and at night, did voice-overs at the studios, and went out singing.
All this led him to share the stage with Aida Cuevas, Rosenda Bernal, Los Lobos, and Lalo Guerrero. While still with Quetzal, he opened for Aerosmith, Taj Mahal, and others.
Read also: Creator of Afro-Rican Jazz William Cepeda talks about this subgenre
