Gualberto Castro - Early Life

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 countertenor voice to harmonize with Jorge's superb tenor 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."