A Latin Grammy Niche That’s Rich in Family Talent

Never in the 42-year history of the Grammys have two fathers and their two sons been nominated in the same category, each individual against the other, as is the case in the inaugural Latin Grammys’ ranchera competition.

The nominees include the elder statesmen of mariachi, Vicente Fernandez and Antonio Aguilar, and their popular offspring, Alejandro Fernandez and Pepe Aguilar. The other nominee is Nydia Rojas.

Of the younger men, Fernandez has gotten the most media attention in the U.S., thanks to three things: He looks like a model, is signed to a powerful label (Sony Discos) and has ventured outside of the Mexican music field with two successful pop albums.

But the younger Aguilar, who headlines the Universal Amphitheatre on Sunday, is widely regarded as the superior artist. This fact is largely overlooked here for three reasons: He’s average-looking, is signed to a powerless label (Musart, one of the last surviving independent labels in Mexico) and refuses to record a pop album.

The lack of mainstream media attention hasn’t much bothered 30-year-old Aguilar, a multimillion-selling singer confident enough to call his just-released album “Lo Grande de los Grandes.”

The title means “The Biggest of the Big,” and on the album Aguilar sings the best-known hits of legends such as his dad, Javiar Solis, Miguel Aceves Mejia, Pedro Infante, Vicente Fernandez and Jorge Negrete.

Asked if he would feel guilty winning the Grammy on Sept. 13 at Staples Center because it would mean his father would lose, the younger Aguilar laughs heartily, then says, “No! He has enough. I’m starting my career now.”

For both Alejandro Fernandez and Pepe Aguilar, growing up in the shadow of men as famous in Mexican music and film as Frank Sinatra is in the U.S. was tough. But in Aguilar’s case it was doubly difficult, as his mother, Flor Silvestre, is also a film and music star.

The younger of his parents’ two children, Aguilar was born in San Antonio, Texas--but only because his parents were on tour there. Pepe, whose full name is Jose Antonio Aguilar Jimenez, was raised in Mexico and from an early age performed in the traveling family rodeo show.

Aguilar says he realized he was a talented singer at age 15, when people began to comment on his rich, pliable tenor. But rather than follow in his parents’ mariachi footsteps, he says, he chose to form a rock band named Equs, the Latin word for horse.

Equs released an album in the late ‘80s that, in Aguilar’s words, “didn’t do much.” Still, he stuck with the group for four years before finally realizing he missed mariachi music.

At 19, Aguilar signed a record deal with his father’s label, Musart, as a mariachi artist. Aware that mariachi was not exactly popular 10 years ago with young Mexicans, Aguilar set out to change his sound (adding saxes and synthesizers) and his concept.

“We’re not talking about our ranch anymore,” Aguilar says with an affectionate grin, “or about our horses, and about our revolutionary history. We’re talking about love, we’re talking about normal, contemporary problems. . . . And I’ll never ride a horse on stage.”

Aguilar has recorded 10 mariachi/ranchera albums, which have sold a combined 580,000 copies in the United States alone, according to SoundScan. Aguilar’s U.S. sales might be much higher, as up to 80% of Mexican music sales are not tallied in the U.S. because most is sold at flea markets and small stores still not plugged into the SoundScan system. Aguilar’s U.S. distributor, Balboa Records in Culver City, estimates his actual U.S. sales at between 4 million and 5 million albums.

Last year he took home the Billboard Latin Music Award for album of the year, in honor of his dominance of the Mexican regional charts in the U.S. In Mexico, Aguilar has sold tens of millions of albums. He and his second wife, Aneliz, have homes in Mexico City, Zacatecas and McAllen, Texas. They have two children, Aneliz, 2, and Leo, 1. Aguilar has another son, Emiliano, 8, from his first marriage.

Aguilar plans to launch his own record label this year and will focus on producing rock bands. He says he will continue to record mariachi as a solo artist and has no plans for an English-language album--ever.

“Mariachi is very complete,” he says in fluent, accent-free English. “I can say whatever I want with it. I could be mad. I could be telling a story. I could be talking about my wife. I could be talking about my ex-wife. I could be singing about my son, and all the people would understand it, in a very profound way.

“You see, Mexican music is for parties, it’s for funerals, marriages, weddings, baptisms--I mean, tell me about another kind of music where you can do the same.”

* Pepe Aguilar plays Sunday at the Universal Amphitheatre, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, 8:15 p.m. $93.50 to $43.50. (818) 622-4440.