"Simplemente Amigos" is a ballad written and performed by Mexican singer-songwriter Ana Gabriel

Ana Gabriel

Ana Gabriel is a Mexican singer and composer.Ana Gabriel was born as María Guadalupe Araujo Yong, in Santiago de Comanito, Sinaloa, Mexico. She first sang on the stage at age six, singing "Regalo A Dios" by José Alfredo Jiménez. She moved to Tijuana, Baja California and studied accounting...

. It was produced by Mariano Pérez and was released in 1989 as the second single from her studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 Tierra de Nadie

Tierra de nadie

Tierra de Nadie is the 4th studio album by Mexican pop singer Ana Gabriel. It was released on 1988. She achieved international recognition with this album and it reached #1 in the Billboard Latin Pop Albums staying in the chart for 73 weeks. It sold 4 million worldwide...

. The song became Gabriel's second number-one single in the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart after "Ay Amor

Ay Amor

"Ay Amor" is a ballad written and performed by Mexican singer-songwriter Ana Gabriel and produced by Mariano Pérez. It was released as the first single from her third studio album Pecado Original in late 1987...

" in 1988. The success of the song led its parent album to its peak at number one in the Billboard Latin Pop Albums

Latin Pop Albums

Latin Pop Albums is a record chart published on Billboard magazine. It features Latin music information of the Pop music genre. Established in June 1985, this chart features only full length albums and like all album charts on Billboard, is based on sales. The information is compiled by Nielsen...

 and approximate sales of six million units in Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

.

"Simplemente Amigos" is one of Gabriel's signature song

Signature song

A signature song is the one song that a popular and well-established singer or band is most closely identified with or best known for, even if they have had success with a variety of songs...

s and one of the most covered songs, aside from being named her first smash hit. The song title was later used in a compilation album

Los Gabriel… Simplemente Amigos

Los Gabriel… Simplemente Amigos is a compilation album by Mexican singers Ana Gabriel and Juan Gabriel...

 featuring songs by Gabriel and fellow Mexican singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 Juan Gabriel

Juan Gabriel

Alberto Aguilera Valadez , better known by his stage name Juan Gabriel , is a Mexican singer and songwriter who is one of the most famous living representatives of the Mexican ranchera, ballad, mariachi, and pop music....

.

Chart performance

The song debuted in the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart at number 36 in the week of May 20, 1989, climbing to the top ten two weeks later. "Simplemente Amigos" peaked at number-one on September 2, 1989, on its sixteenth week, holding this position for two consecutive weeks, replacing "Baila Mi Rumba

Baila Mi Rumba

"Baila Mi Rumba" is a dance song written by Isidore York, Rudy Pérez and V. M. Hernández, produced by Perez and Emilio Estefan, Jr., and performed by Venezuelan singer José Luis Rodríguez "El Puma"...

" by José Luis Rodríguez "El Puma" and being replaced by Gloria Estefan

Gloria Estefan

Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García de Estefan; known professionally as Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-born American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known as the "Queen Of Latin Pop", she is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 100 million albums sold worldwide, 31.5 million of those...

 with "Si Voy a Perderte

Don't Wanna Lose You

"Don't Wanna Lose You" is a song written and recorded by Gloria Estefan. It was released in 1989 as the first single from the album Cuts Both Ways and reached number one in the U.S., where it became her second number-one single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100...

". It ranked seventh in the Hot Latin Tracks Year-End Chart of 1989 and spend 29 weeks within the Top 40 in United States.

Cover versions

"Simplemente Amigos" is one of the most covered songs on Gabriel's repertoire. Banda Preciosa de Durango, Keyla Caballero, Calor del Norte, David Cedeno, Cumbia Na Na Na, Los Grey's, Grupo Secreto, Grupo Super T, Gary Hobbs, Iris, JC y Su Banda Duranguense, Junior Klan, Mónica, Nadia

Nadia López

Nadia Yvonne López Ayuso , is a Grammy Award nominated Mexican singer and reality television star.-Early life:...

, Emilio Navaira, Quadra, Bienvenido Rodríguez, Oscar Rubio y su Banda Canela, Son de Azúcar and Violento have recorded versions of the song. Mexican singer Myriam

Myriam Montemayor Cruz

Myriam Montemayor Cruz , better known as Myriam, is a Mexican recording artist, known for winning the first generation of La Academia.-Biography:...

 also did her version of the track and included it on her album Simplemente Amigos

Simplemente Amigos (album)

Simplemente Amigos after almost two years of her last album Myriam launches her 4th indedit album and 5th studio album. An album of Ana Gabriel's covers, twelve songs full of feeling and talent. Myriam recreate the songs of Mrs. Gabriel in a spectacular way...

— a Tribute album

Tribute album

A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...

 to Ana Gabriel. This album peaked at number 1 in the Mexican Albums Chart

AMPROFON

Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas is a non-profit organization integrated by multinational and national record companies in Mexico. Established on April 3, 1963, it groups phonographic companies that represent more than 70 percent of the market in Mexico...

 and received a gold certification

Music recording sales certification

Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

in México for sales over 300,000 copies.