When it comes to names, Aida Cuevas reveals that she owes a debt to Verdi

Opera aficionados might wonder if Mexican vocalist Aida Cuevas is obliged to Giuseppe Verdi, at least in the realm of first names.

“My father loved opera, so they named me Aida,” she said in an interview last year with the Austin (Texas) Chronicle. Aida, as opera lovers know, is the name of a fictional princess of the Nile, immortalized in Verdi’s 1871 opera, Aida. “[My father] wanted me to sing opera, so I started vocalizing bel canto [a 18th-century style of vocalism] at 11 years old. But I didn’t want to sing opera.

“I wanted to sing ranchero,” said Cuevas, referring to a traditional Mexican music genre (also known as ranchera or informally, mariachi). Cuevas performs Sept. 26 in an SCP Featured Concert, as part of a tour celebrating her 50 years in entertainment. 

Since her recording debut in the mid-’70s, Cuevas has been a leading artist in the Latin music world. She also acted in movies, but music, especially ranchera, remains her first love. “Where there’s mariachi, there’s a fiesta,” she likes to say. “The music of mariachi gives identity to a whole country — Mexico. Ranchera music takes you through many moods.

“When you’re really happy, you play a son. When you’re really sad, you listen to [legendary songwriter] José Alfredo [Jiménez]. When you’re melancholy, you listen to [Mexican vocalists] Cuco Sánchez or Juan Gabriel. “It’s a range of colors, mariachi music. And I’m very proud to sing it.”

As he was for fellow vocalist Rocio Durcal, singer-songwriter Juan Gabriel, who died in 2016, proved to be a pivotal figure in Cuevas’ career. Last year, on the disc “Aida Cuevas Vuelve a Cantar a Juan Gabriel,” she saluted her mentor. The 2024 disc re-creates her 1986 album “Aida Cuevas Canta a Juan Gabriel” song for song. Cuevas reportedly is the only artist granted permission by the Juan Gabriel estate to perform a tribute to the Latin music icon, whom many regard as the most popular Mexican singer-songwriter of all time.

In an interview with El Heraldo de México, Cuevas recalled a meeting, five months before his death, with Juan Gabriel. The lifelong bachelor asked her why she had never agreed to marry him, after popping the question to her several times. " ‘Listen, honey, why didn’t you want to marry me?’ And I said to him, ’Look, friend, if I had married you, I wouldn’t be Aida Cuevas, I would have been Juan Gabriel’s wife.’ And he turned around, stared at me and said, ’I like your answer.’ "