Saul El Jaguar Alarcón

Saul "El Jaguar" Alarcón is one of the better-known artists in regional Mexican music, an established star who was already a seasoned veteran when he rose to stardom at the age of 20. Born on May 28, 1988, Saul Alarcón was raised in Delicias, Chihuahua, Mexico, the youngest of 13 children, and at the age of three, he began singing at family gatherings, sounding good enough to earn a few coins from the grown-ups as payment. In his teens, Alarcón worked a variety of odd jobs to help support his family, including meat packing, waiting tables, and painting houses, but he continued to sing in his spare time, playing weddings, parties, and quinceañeras, and after singing a few songs with a band at a party,16-year-old Alarcón was invited to join the group. A year later, Alarcón landed his big break when he was signed to a record deal with Universal Music Mexico. Initially, the label paired him with female vocalist Yamily in a duo called Yamily y Saul, imagining Alarcón’s youthful good looks would make him a sure bet for romantic material. But the Yamily y Saul album didn’t do well in the marketplace, and Alarcón’s style shifted from Duranguense and Norteño sounds to banda Sinaloense numbers. Taking the nickname “El Jaguar,” Alarcón unveiled his new sound and style on his first solo album, 2008′s Un Sueño, which was a modest success, while 2009′s El Katch scored him a major hit with the title song, about young men adopting flashy clothes and accessories. 2010′s Solo Contigo was another chart success, and by 2013, Alarcón had accumulated enough hits to merit the release of a collection of his best-known tunes, Lo Mejor de Saul "El Jaguar" Alarcón. ~ Mark Deming