Pepe Aguilar

Pepe Aguilar works as a vocalist, composer, and record producer whose lineage traces directly to the multi-platinum icons Antonio Aguilar and Flor Silvestre. He has collected dozens of awards while moving millions of units. His resonant, evocative, and amorous baritone draws its foundation from mariachi and ranchera traditions. The 1992 breakthrough album Recuérdame Bonito was both written and produced by Joan Sebastian. The 1999 release Por una Mujer Bonita attained quadruple-platinum status. Beginning in 2000, Aguilar delivered multiple tribute projects honoring legendary performers and writers, among them his parents on the 2004 set Con Orgullo por Herencia and the charting 2018 volume Fue un Placer Conocerte: Gracias Juan Gabriel, Vol. 1. He operates his own studio and label while occasionally venturing outside convention, as with the 2016 genre-blurring album No Lo Habia Dicho. The 2020 project Se7entas reworked earlier hits through contemporary production. The 2021 album Mexicano Hasta los Huesos was issued jointly with his children, professional singers Leonardo Aguilar and Angela Aguilar, and the 2022 collection A la Medida featured partnerships with leading composers. The 2024 album Que Llueva Tequila wove bachata, country, rock, and cumbia into its mariachi and ranchera base.

Born in San Antonio, Texas during his parents’ tour, Aguilar grew up in Zacatecas, Mexico. He stepped onto a stage for the first time at age three when his father invited him to sing at Madison Square Garden. Although immersed from infancy in the traditions of Mexican folk music, he also absorbed the sounds broadcast on radio. A devoted listener of Pink Floyd and the Who, he formed the rock band Equs during his teenage years and performed both original new-wave material and classic-rock covers. The group dissolved quickly; by age twenty Aguilar had returned to the Tejano repertoire of his youth. He signed with Musart and debuted on record in 1989 with the banda album Pepe Aguilar con Tambora. Two further volumes appeared in 1990 and 1991. Joan Sebastian attended one of his concerts, then offered to produce the next project. The noted mariachi composer supplied every song on Recuérdame Bonito, tailoring each piece to the particular qualities of Aguilar’s voice. The album reached number eight on the Mexican Regional Albums chart and received extensive airplay across northern Mexico and southwest Texas.

While continuing to record, Aguilar strengthened his standing through a widely praised live presentation that mixed classics from Mexico’s past with his own material. A consummate showman, he routinely performed for hours and kept audiences engaged whether appearing in Caracas, Mexico City, or Laredo, Texas. That relentless schedule prepared the ground for the 1998 classic Por Mujeres Como Tu. Its title-track single ascended to the top of the charts, the album climbed to number four, and it remained on the chart for eighty-one weeks. Aguilar promoted the success through television, radio, and live appearances. The set became the first installment of a trilogy completed by the chart-topping Por el Amor de Siempre and Por una Mujer Bonita. The latter also received a Grammy and supported a tour that extended from Chile to Alaska.

In 2000 Aguilar released Lo Grande de Los Grandes, a set of covers drawn from historic songwriters that included Javier Solis, Jorge Negrete, Pedro Infante, Miguel Acevez Mejia, and Vicente Fernandez. The 2001 album Lo Mejor de Nosotros yielded the number-one single “Me Vas a Extrañar,” while the project itself reached number four and spent twenty-six weeks on the chart. In 2003 he departed Musart, established his own studio and label Equinoccio Records, and issued the charting full-length Y Tenerte Otra Vez, which became his first number-one album. Several months later he followed with Con Orgullo por Herencia, a tribute of twelve ranchera classics originally popularized by his parents; it peaked at number three. In 2004 Aguilar wrote “Miedo,” adopted as the theme for the television series Big Brother México. Marking his first original composition in fifteen years, the track climbed to the top five on Latin Pop and the top ten on Mexican Regional Songs.

Already recognized for experimentation, Aguilar gained greater freedom once operating his own label. He recorded the pop-ballad album No Soy de Nadie, which reached number four and opened new markets including Puerto Rico and Cuba. Despite near-constant touring he continued to record, issuing Historias de Mi Tierra in 2005 and Enamorado in 2006, both balancing mariachi with deeply romantic pop ballads; the former landed at number fourteen. In 2007 he released 100% Mexicano, which reached number sixteen and earned a Grammy. The album featured newly written songs in mariachi and Sinaloa-style banda supplied by Marc Antonio Solis, Martin Urieta, Leonel Garcia of Sin Bandera, Reily Barba, and additional writers. The following year Homenaje appeared, a collection in which Aguilar described his late father as “more than a father, but also a colleague, and a Zacatecan artist who opened countless doors in his exemplary passage through this world.” During 2008 he took part in a Grammy U SoundChecks event in Los Angeles, performing live and answering questions from students.

Early in the second decade of the century Aguilar issued the self-produced, Grammy-winning album Bicentenario, conceived to honor Mexico through a selection of his own representative songs rendered in the two central genres of traditional Mexican music, ranchera and banda. The 2012 release Con Mariachi accompanied a concert tour that brought his two-plus-hour program of traditional material to North American stages, selling out multiple venues including three consecutive nights at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Later that year he released the Grammy-winning EP Mas de un Camino, a fusion of modern ranchera, pop, and mariachi that entered the top twenty on the Top Latin Albums chart. During a break in touring the following year he joined the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live “A Conversation With” series and reflected on his career. To mark the moderated discussion the museum presented the exhibit “Pepe Aguilar…La Leyenda Continúa,” offering visitors a detailed view of the regional Mexican artist’s musical and professional path. In October 2013 he released the Latin Grammy-winning album Lastima Que Sean Ajenas, a striking ranchera collection that reached the summit of the Regional Mexican albums chart. He also headlined a widely viewed episode of MTV Unplugged, delivering thirteen signature songs that spanned ranchera to rock, accompanied by his own ensemble and guests that included Natalia Lafourcade, Miguel Bose, his children Angela and Leonardo, La Marisol of La Santa Cecilia, and others. The resulting soundtrack album registered inside the top ten on the Regional Mexican albums, Latin Pop, and Top Latin Albums charts simultaneously and was certified triple platinum. Aguilar then toured throughout North, South, and Central America. After a brief pause he returned to the studio with co-producers and co-writers Yamil Rezc and Chile’s Francis and Mauricio Duran of Los Bunkers, creating a program that mixed rock, pop, cumbia, vallenatos, románticas, and banda. Audiences followed. The advance single “Maria” topped streaming charts, and the full-length album reached number three on two separate album lists. That same year he issued the tribute compilation Pepe Aguilar Interpreta Joan Sebastian. Following intensive touring and deeply affected by the passing of songwriter Juan Gabriel, Aguilar joined numerous Mexican artists in releasing his own homage in December 2018 with Fue un Placer Conocerte: Gracias Juan Gabriel, Vol. 1.

Aguilar placed two albums in 2020: Mi Mexico Querido, a ballad collection augmented by a chamber orchestra alongside his regular band, and Se7entas, a hits package refreshed with modern production values. The 2021 album Mexicano Hasta los Huesos was recorded in collaboration with his children Leonardo Aguilar and Angela Aguilar, both professional singers. The 2022 release A la Medida contained eleven songs; Aguilar wrote or co-wrote most of the material and partnered with Eden Munoz on several tracks, including the opening hit “Traigo Ganas.” Gussy Lau and Leonardo contributed the single “No Me Hablen de Amor,” while Fato (Enrique Guzmán Yáñez) supplied “Contéstame el Teléfono.” Seeking fresh sonic territory, he produced the thirteen-track 2024 album Que Llueva Tequila. Although steeped in mariachi and ranchera, the record selectively incorporates bachata, country, and rock—complete with electric guitars and drums—along with an organ on the title track. Aguilar enlisted an array of distinguished songwriters that included Enrique Guzmán “Fato” Yáñez, Pablo Preciado, Edgar Barrera, Luciano Luna, Leslie Laraim Orduno Verduzco, Rene Umberto Lau, Jesus Caballero, and others. Every date on the accompanying U.S. and Mexican tours sold out in advance.