The Pond Will the Test Waters With Gabriel Show : Pop music: The arena explores ‘a new area’ tonight by presenting an event--the hottest ticket in Mexico--aimed almost exclusively at Latinos.

The Pond of Anaheim, which in its first year scored a splashy pop-music coup by landing Barbra Streisand’s only Southern California engagement, will test the local Latino market today with a concert by Mexico’s biggest pop star, Juan Gabriel.

Pond spokesman John J. Nicoletti said Thursday that tickets were selling briskly for the event and that a big walk-up crowd is also expected.

Gabriel has in the past sold out multiple-day engagements at the Universal Amphitheatre and last year performed a benefit at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. A 1990 concert by Gabriel at Santa Ana Stadium drew 8,000.

The Pond has been the site of a mariachi festival, but this is the first pop event geared almost exclusively to a Latino audience. Although Gabriel has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, he has had little crossover success in the United States.

“It’s a new area for us,” Nicoletti said, but with the county’s large Latino population, further forays into the market are expected.

Gabriel, 42, is a hugely successful singing star whose splashy stage shows have helped make him Mexico’s most popular concert draw. He has written more than 600 songs, mainly romantic ballads, many of which have been recorded by other performers. His detours into mariachi and ranchera music give his concerts and records a roots appeal that balances his pop sensibilities.

In a rare interview for the media-shy star, Gabriel told The Times last year about his childhood in an orphanage after his father died and his mother decided she could not raise him alone. He said the experience helped give him the toughness to survive in the competitive pop music world and inspired him to start and support an orphanage in Chihuahua, Mexico.

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Opening the orphanage “was a great experience, and it’s one reason I can say I’m proud and at peace with myself,” he said. Gabriel added that he is not bitter about his upbringing: “The most important thing is that I’m here now helping so that others don’t have to suffer like me.”

This month will see the U.S. release of Gabriel’s first studio album in eight years, following a protracted legal battle with his record label, BMG. The new album, “Gracias por Esperar” (“Thanks for Waiting”) will be out Tuesday, and, according to the BMG International office in Los Angeles, the album has already sold 500,000 copies in Mexico alone.

The single, “Pero Que Necesidad” (“But What Is the Need?”), has been playing for more than a month on local Spanish-language radio stations.

Perhaps another example of his place in Mexican music is the respect among artists of other genres, notably young Mexican rockers who often are critical of the mainstream.

“He’s not a product of the machinery; he wasn’t invented by millions of dollars,” said Roco, singer for Mexico City’s Maldita Vecindad, one of the country’s top three rock bands. “He’s a truly popular icon who was embraced and made a star by the people.”

* Juan Gabriel performs tonight at The Pond of Anaheim, 2695 E. Katella Ave. 8 p.m. $25-$50. (714) 740-2000. Free-lance writer Enrique Lopetegui contributed to this article.