Luis Miguel during a concert in Las Vegas in 2019. Ethan Miller (Getty Images)
On Valentine’s Day, Luis Miguel (San Juan, Puerto Rico, 52 years old) tried to win back his audience. He did it by sharing a photo and four words: “Luis Miguel, Tour 2023”. The publication caused great expectations in the networks, but the artist remained silent. Since his last concert four years ago, El Sol has maintained discretion, a background that he has shaped with his private life since his youth. The controversy during his last tour – delays, half songs and maybe even a few too many drinks – has subsided and the artist has shown a renewal on a personal and professional level. Since his last appearance, the singer’s life has been marked by a pandemic, a love hiatus, a new crush, a reconciliation with his eldest daughter, and most importantly, silence.
The Covid-enforced isolation and audience recovery for many of his hits thanks to the popularity of the biographical series (Luis Miguel: The Series) were key to the artist’s removal from public life. “He’s had an interesting bailout in his career that has brought him back to the top. After chaining errors for so long, you see a star’s rebirth. With a single post, it revolutionized and created very special expectations,” says entertainment journalist Gilberto Barrera.
The announcement of the artist’s renewed return to the stage inevitably brought back the bittersweet memory of the controversy of his last tour four years ago. An example of this was performing at the National Auditorium of Mexico, where he started late, singing songs halfway out of time, receiving ovations and boos from the audience, and accusations of dealing in signs of intoxication. Months later, the help of some friends like Miguel Alemán or businessman Carlos Bremer allowed him to finish the tour in style. Despite the controversy, the idol will be back on stage four years later. “He has tremendous resilience. And because of his maturity, he sings even better than before,” defends the President of the Society of Authors and Composers of Mexico, Martín Urieta, who has worked for Vicente Fernández, among others.
a renewal
The old specter of drinking problems that had haunted the singer since his youth seemed to be back for good during the first round of the Mexico tour. Criticism over physical exhaustion, low expectations at some of his performances, and allegations across networks that Luis Miguel took the stage drunk surfaced months before his final concert in November 2019 at Caesar’s Palace Coliseum in Las Vegas. There Luis Miguel sang 27 of his greatest hits, dressed in a suit, with a toupee and a smile of brilliant beads.
Three years later, a photo of the artist performing with a few followers at a Miami restaurant showed a radical transformation of the singer, rejuvenated and with visibly more defined facial features. Barrera believes this transformation has a purpose. “His physical transformation speaks to the concern he has to appear perfect. He’s doing everything he can to arrive neatly, with an overwhelming personality, to avoid the criticism he’s faced in the past,” he affirms.
Luis Miguel during the presentation of his album “My favorite boleros” on October 2, 2002 in Madrid. Fernando Camino (Cover/Getty Images)
open to a new romance
Luis Miguel has always been in love with life, with women and with music. He himself commented on this in his interviews. “Clear [que me he enamorado]If not, how would you sing all the ballads and boleros? Everything has a logic, if you can’t feel a lot of emotions, if you can’t live, then it’s harder to interpret songs,” he assured in 1997 on the Chilean TV show Viva el Lunes.
El Sol’s intense private life was marked by the unknown, which he tried to maintain at all times. In the last four years, Luis Miguel has experienced a love change, but always with discretion. After breaking off his relationship with American model Mollie Gould, the singer met again with designer Paloma Cuevas. They had known each other since childhood when Luis Miguel’s father, Luis Gallego (better known as Luisito Rey), fought in the cloaks of Cuevas’ father, Victoriano Valencia.
Years later, the singer befriended Enrique Ponce, Cuevas’ ex-partner, who is also godfather to his eldest son, Miguel. The reunion between El Sol and the designer started last summer and since then they have been spotted together several times. Hello magazine! reported that on February 14 – when he announced his return to the stage – the two were dining together at Bemelman’s Bar, the piano bar at the Carlyle Hotel in New York; and in late 2022, they did some Christmas shopping together in central Madrid, in the heart of the city when it was closed to the public.
The singer has always been humble about his media exposure offstage, despite the gossip that has shaped his leading man character. “It’s an impressive strategy. He managed to create a solid character inspired by the crooners of the 1920s or 1930s [Frank] Sinatra who has remained beautiful characters,” comments Barrera.
The Mexican singer portrayed in Madrid in 1998. Uly Martin
A reunion with his eldest daughter
The relationship with Michelle Salas, the singer’s eldest daughter with actress Stephanie Salas, was complicated from birth. As revealed by his biographical series, the singer refused to accept paternity when she was just a baby, although he has changed since he met him in 2005. “The relationship with Michelle for a number of years [Salas] it was very positive. I think that also speaks volumes about the emotional transformation she’s going through. I don’t know how close he is in his intimate life, but he’s rebuilding himself in different areas,” says the journalist.
The phenomenon Luis Miguel has been marked by ups and downs since childhood. He began his career at just 11 years old, performing at the wedding of the daughter of then-Mexican President José López Portillo (1976-1982). From that moment, it wasn’t long before fame knocked on his door. A year later he released his first single “1+1=2 lovers”. The beginning of this fame also meant the beginning of an exploitation of his character. Her father, Luisito Rey, made the young promise to act tirelessly: appearances on television, chained national concerts and even world tours. The bubble that began to swell due to the ambitions of an alcoholic, macho, and lying father continued to grow until it burst in the early 1990s when Luis Miguel decided to get away from him some time before his death from cirrhosis.
Luis Miguel poses for a portrait with his brothers Alejandro and Sergio as a teenager in 1985. Mondadori Portfolio (Getty Images)
The RAE defines a gallant as “a man of good countenance, well proportioned, and graceful in dealing with his person”. A cliché that has haunted the interpreter of Das Unconditioned since his youth. “I think it’s important to live in the present and enjoy it. Life is a miracle, a privilege, you have to enjoy every moment,” Luis Miguel said in 2010, then paused, smiled and exclaimed, “Yes!” He had enjoyed his ode to life.
El Sol’s return to the stage is filled with optimism and interest. “It’s a pride and a joy. We Mexican producers are very happy about his return, new perspectives are opening up,” says Urieta, who does not hide his compliments to the singer: “He has perseverance, tenacity, discipline and presence”. Barrera underlines Urieta’s words. “It is a phenomenon of those who are not repeatable. For all that that entails, even the same excesses seen on the show show you that he’s a darling of God, that he continues to maintain an unwavering voice,” he concludes.
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