Hernan José Gamboa Alexis (June 18, 1946 – January 10, 2016) was a Venezuelan musician, composer and singer. He was a member of the Venezuelan fold music group Serenata Guayanesa, and later released separate albums.

Biography

The first of seven sons between musician and composer Carmito Gamboa Almeida y Carmen Alexis de Gamboa, Gamboa grew up around music. He studied music with his father, who taught him to play the traditional Venezuelan instrument, the

Cuatro Cuatro, Spanish (and other Romance languages) for the 4, number 4, may refer to: * Cuatro (instrument), a family of Latin American string instruments, including: ** Cuatro (Venezuela) ** Puerto Rican cuatro * Cuatro (TV channel), a Spanish free-to ...

, as well as the guitar and various other instruments. In 1970, Gamboa helped found Serenata Guayanesa with his friends and colleagues Mauricio Castro Rodríguez and the brothers Iván and César Pérez Rossi. He was the cuatrista and tenor voice in the group, which from 1972 until he left the group in 1983, recorded 10 albums. In 1977, while still a part of the Serenata Guauanesa, Gamboa launched his solo career by signing with the Venezuelan record company PROMUS. In August of that year, he released his first solo album, "El Cuatro de Venezuela." Then in 1983, he decided to focus all his attention on his solo career, and hence left the Serenata Guyanesa. He released a total of 25 solo albums in his lifetime. Gamboa began suffering from

muscular dystrophy Muscular dystrophies (MD) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of rare neuromuscular diseases that cause progressive weakness and breakdown of skeletal muscles over time. The disorders differ as to which muscles are primarily affe ...

, and in 1992 decided to move to the United States in order to get a clearer diagnosis and the help he needed. He lived in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

for a while, before moving to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Argentina in 2010, where he continued his musical career until his death. In August 2015, Gamboa was diagnosed with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

, which he would die of several months later on January 10, 2016.

Nominations

He was nominated for the Latin Grammy's for three of his records: ''El mundo en cuatro cuerdas (1993)'', ''Serenatas en contrapuntos (2006)'' and ''La Fiesta (2007)'', although he never won one.

References

External links

Interview to Hernán Gamboa in VOZZ.tv for the concert to Simón Díaz
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Hernán Gamboa Info & music
1946 births 2016 deaths Venezuelan male composers People from Anzoátegui Venezuelan composers Venezuelan-cuatro players Venezuelan folk singers Deaths from lung cancer in Argentina {{Venezuela-musician-stub