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 later wrote some of Castro's songs. 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." [edit] Musically
The Castro Brothers were famous for their four part harmony with Gualberto’s countertenor / tenor voice often singing lead. They recorded numerous albums; one of their most famous hits, “Yo Sin Ti”, [1] written and arranged by Arturo Castro, became a popular song throughout Mexico and South America. Recently CBS has released a composite CD / DVD of Los Hermanos Castros singing and performing live filmed and recorded during the 1960s.
When returning to Mexico, Los Hermanos Castro decided to go their separate ways, each successfully developing a career in music. Gualberto embarked on a solo singing career, recording one album a year and appearing in numerous night clubs, theaters, movies and television; he was a long time emcee for the La Carabina de Ambrosio a popular weekly television show during the early 1980s that co-starred the magician Beto "El Boticario" and dancer Gina Montes[2]. Castro entered and won the OTI (Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana) award twice once in 1975 for "La Felicidad"[3] [4]written by Felipe Gill and has received numerous awards and honors from Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Colombia and the United States. Most recently he received a lifetime award for singing and entertaining from the ANDA (Accociacion Nacional de Actores). On August 22, 2007, Gualberto celebrated 60 years as a singer / entertainer. [edit] Interview with Gualberto Castro
In a recent Television interview, interviewer Mario Pintor asked Gualberto Castro what he does to keep his singing voice in tact after so many years of performances. Gualberto answered: “It is not magic to keep one’s voice, but with discipline. If you are a person who stays out late at night, drinks alcohol, smokes cigarettes, and carouses around, well, your singing voice will change tone, perhaps get graveled, and finally, you can’t sing. I use the paradigm of Tito Guízar: he was 90 years old and he was still singing in the same key as when he was young. At 90 years old he still could sing opera because he was a disciplined person. The same with Don Pedro Vargas, both of them died singing.[5]
