
Born: 23 July 1999
Age:
Years Active: 2014–2015, 2020–present
Genre/s: Regional Mexican, corridos tumbados
Label/s: Los CT
Gabriel "Gabito" Ballesteros Abril (born 23 July 1999) is a Mexican singer-songwriter and record producer. He is considered one of the rising acts in the corridos tumbados movement, following in the footsteps of artists such as Peso Pluma, Natanael Cano, and Junior H. He is best known for collaborating with these artists on singles such as "AMG" in 2022 and "Lady Gaga" in 2023, both of which charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 1 in Mexico. Ballesteros also collaborated with Becky G in the 2023 single, "La Nena".
Gabito Ballesteros Abril was born on 23 July 1999 in Cumpas, Sonora, to Gabriel Ballesteros Guzmán and Mónica Abril Medina, both from Cumpas. He has two sisters. At the age of eight, Ballesteros was taught to play guitar by his mother and he began playing in a choir at the local Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe church. When he was nine, he joined a children's mariachi band formed by the priest that played at religious celebrations in town. Ballesteros soon learned to play other instruments such as the trumpet, violin, and vihuela, but was chosen as the group's lead vocalist after a rendition of "El Rey". He led the group to local notoriety as they began playing at a wide variety of events in the region.
Ballesteros attended the Escuela Secundaria Prof. Rafael N. Varela for secondary school and won first place in many musical competitions. At the age of 14, he took a music course in Hermosillo over the summer, which motivated him to begin uploading covers to Facebook and YouTube. Ballesteros also learned to play bass guitar from the parish priest and formed part of a group called Diamante Norteño. He has stated that he drew inspiration from artists such as Joan Sebastian, Remmy Valenzuela, and Julión Álvarez.