Born on February 24th, 1936 in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, singer-songwriter, guitarist and actor Luis Aguile (real name Luis María Aguilera) first rose to prominence aged twenty as a competitor on the TV talent show Music-Hall. After covering various popular rancheras and signing to Odeon Records, he released his self-titled debut album in 1957, backed by a full orchestra. His third album, 1959’s Luis Aguile Vol. 3, stormed international Spanish-language markets, and the follow-up, 1960’s Vol. 4, featured his first self-written track, “La balanza”. Boosting his profile with a lead role in the 1962 film La Chacota, he went on to relocate to Spain the following year, where he topped the singles charts for six consecutive weeks over the course of Christmas 1963 with “Dile”. Increasingly penning original compositions thereafter, he signed to CBS in the late 1960s, with whom he would remain for nearly two decades. Another career highlight in this era came in the form of the 1969 single “Ven a Mi Casa Esta Navidad” (“Come to My House This Christmas”), an original Christmas song which would go on to be covered by the likes of Verónica Castro and Alberto Vasquez. From then on, Aguile landed a run of high-profile presenting roles on Spanish TV, also recording an anthem for Mexican football team Monterrey and continuing to prolifically release LPs via CBS. His final album, Superfiesta, arrived in 1999, although he would release another new single, 2007’s “Nadie me quita mis vacaciones en Castellón”, before stomach cancer claimed his life on October 10th, 2009 in Madrid.
