Juan Gabriel

Juan Gabriel, the prolific singer and songwriter who was one of Mexico’s most successful musical artists, died on Sunday at his home in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 66.

Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, offered his condolences on Twitter to Juan Gabriel’s family and friends, calling him “one of the great musical icons of our country.”

Lamento la muerte de Juan Gabriel, uno de los grandes íconos musicales de nuestro país. Mis condolencias a sus familiares y amigos.

— Enrique Peña Nieto (@EPN) August 28, 2016

Juan Gabriel’s publicist told The Associated Press that he had died on Sunday morning. Univision reported that he had suffered a heart attack.

An extraordinarily productive artist, Juan Gabriel released the first of several dozen albums in 1971 and continued to release records at a relentless pace, including two this year. He was nominated for six Grammy Awards and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame.

Four of Juan Gabriel’s albums had reached No. 1 on the Billboard Latin chart in the last 18 months. He sold three million albums in the United States over the course of his career, a number dwarfed by his sales in Mexico. In 2009, when he was declared the Latin Recording Academy person of the year at the Latin Grammys, the academy released a statement saying that he had sold over 100 million albums in his career.

Juan Gabriel was active until the end. He performed for two hours at the Los Angeles Forum on Friday, clad in one of his typical brightly colored outfits. In its review of the concert, Billboard called him “the ultimate showman.”

He was adept at keeping up with shifting genres, combining a contemporary pop sensibility with traditional Mexican music, and often appearing with a full mariachi band in tow. A populist at heart, his songs were broadly relatable, focusing on the everyday dramas of life and love.

Juan Gabriel was also known for his collaborative spirit, and he worked with, and his songs were covered by, many well-known Latin American artists, including Ana Gabriel and Marc Anthony.

Reviewing a concert in 2000, Jon Pareles of The New York Times called Juan Gabriel “a puckish figure onstage — part Tom Jones, part Liberace — with a teasing smile, an occasional hip wiggle and some surprisingly graceful dance steps.”

Juan Gabriel was born Alberto Aguilera Valadez on Jan. 7, 1950, in the state of Michoacan, one of 10 siblings. He was initially raised by his mother and began writing his own songs at the age of 13.

His father, Gabriel Aguilera, was committed to a mental hospital and his mother took the family to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, across the Texas border from El Paso. Unable to support him, she placed him in a children’s home when he was 5 and it was there that he met Juan Contreras, a deaf musician who had played in a band. The stage name Juan Gabriel honors his first teacher and his father.

In a 2012 interview with the Mexican newspaper La Jornada to mark the 40th anniversary of his musical career, he recalled how the pain — and joy — of his childhood had coursed through his music.

“Everyone who gave me food, who took away my hunger, inspired me to compose. They told me their stories and I had no other way to console them than with a piece of music and that is how I learned. I did not resolve their problems with my songs but I created a moment of release. They would cry and they had more affection for me and that is how I grew up,” Juan Gabriel said.

“I wish there were a school to learn not to shed so many tears. That is why music is a way to communicate with all of them, to give thanks that I am part of every person that has contributed to my fulfillment.”

He ran away from the children’s home at 14. “One day I took out the garbage and never went back,” he said. He played in the nightclubs of Ciudad Juárez but he had set his hopes on a bigger prize and set out for Mexico City. Accused of stealing a guitar, he spent a year and a half in the city’s Lecumberri prison.

His luck changed when the ranchera singer Enriqueta Jiménez heard him and persuaded her producers to hire him.

Early hits like “No Tengo Dinero” (1971) often focused on his humble beginnings, making him something of a folk hero.

Juan Gabriel never married. According to The Associated Press, a former secretary of his, Joaquín Muñoz, claimed that the two men had a sexual relationship in a tell-all book, “Juan Gabriel and I.” He did not confirm or deny that he was gay, but his fans were surprised when years later it became known that he had fathered four children with a friend, Laura Salas.

Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.

Many of Juan Gabriel’s peers in the music industry mourned his passing online. Enrique Iglesias called him one of the most talented artists of all time.

Hoy es un día muy triste. Perdimos a uno de los artistas más grandes y talentosos de todos los tiempos. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/FPejTEFMYx

— Enrique Iglesias (@enriqueiglesias) August 28, 2016

Antonio Martínez Velázquez, a co-founder of Horizontal, a cultural and political magazine, posted a tribute on Facebook  in which he described Juan Gabriel as “our emotional pastor.”

“His were not simple concerts, they were religious, mystical and communal experiences,” Mr. Velázquez wrote. “His lyrics made up not songs, but rather hymns.”

In a statement, Juan Gabriel’s son Iván Aguilera called his father’s passing “a tragic loss for all of us, his family, colleagues and fans alike.”

“We know that our father will miss entertaining his countless fans, who brought him tremendous joy in life,” he said.

Juan Gabriel stopped recording and performing for several years in the 1980s while battling his record label, BMG, for control of his music. He eventually came to an agreement with the company and gained control of many of his songs.