Valentín Elizalde (February 1, 1979 – November 25, 2006) was a popular Mexican banda music singer gunned down in an ambush. Known by the nickname El Gallo de Oro (The Golden Rooster), his biggest Banda hits included "Vete Ya," "Ebrio de Amor", " Vete Con El", "Vuelve Cariñito", "Como Me Duele", "Vencedor", " Mi Virgencita", and "Soy Así." Some of his songs were narcocorridos (drug ballads), and it appears he was murdered by drug trafficking gangs. Elizalde was born in the city of Navojoa, Sonora. He then moved to Guadalajara, Jalisco and later to Guasave, Sinaloa where he, his father (also a singer), Lalo Elizalde, nicknamed "El Gallo" (The Rooster), and brothers resided for a few years. His father died in a car accident on the so called "Curva de la muerte" (Curve of Death) in the city of Villa Juárez, Sonora. He had six children with his wife Camila Valencia: Jesus, Joel, Sergio, Valentin, Francisco and Lidia. In 2007, Elizalde was nominated posthumously for the Grammy Awards. His death is said to be related to Los Zetas, a mercenary force employed by the Gulf Cartel. Elizalde, his manager (and best friend) Mario Mendoza Grajeda, and driver Reynaldo Ballesteros were all gunned down in an ambush after a concert in the border city of Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas in an apparent gangland style hit on Saturday, November 25. Tano, his cousin, was also shot several times in the arm. The 27-year-old Valentin Elizalde was killed about 20 minutes after performing. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.