Cepillin Biography

Cepillin was born Ricardo González Gutiérrez on February 7, 1946, in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, to Rubén González Flores and Rebeca Gutiérrez de González. His father worked as a radio presenter and managed a hardware store, while his mother was a homemaker. Although Cepillin wanted to become an artist, his parents wanted him to become a dentist and he was enrolled at the ‘Autonomous University of Nuevo León’. While studying at the university, Cepillin became part of a TV campaign that aimed at promoting dental hygiene among kids. In an attempt to make the kids more comfortable, he decided to act like a clown and painted his face so that the children wouldn’t be afraid as he worked on their teeth.

Over a period of time, Cepillin became popular with the kids and his clown persona worked like a charm. In 1971, he was given an opportunity to host a children's show for a local TV station. Six years later, he relocated to Mexico City where he was hired by Televisa to host his own show titled El Show de Cepillín. The show, which had guests like Lou Ferrigno, increased his popularity as it was aired throughout Latin America for three years. Around the same time, he also started recording children’s albums. Overall, he recorded 27 long play albums out of which 11 were certified gold. His albums, which featured hit songs like La feria de Cepillín, La Gallina Cocoua, and En el bosque de la China, sold over 25 million copies worldwide.

Cepillin continued appearing on several local TV stations in Mexico. He also became part of several international tours with circus companies and went on to establish his own company called ‘El Circo de Cepillín.’ He also had a successful film and stage career. In fact, he is credited with helping younger artists like Yuri, who played an important role in his 1979 film Milagro en el circo. He also cast Salma Hayek, who was unknown at that time, in the stage version of Aladdin. In 1987, he was asked to host another show titled Una sonrisa con Cepillín for Televisa's Channel 5. In 1989, he made two films, namely La Corneta de mi General and Hola Ninos de lucion. Throughout his illustrious career, he never stopped making albums. His 2016 album Gracias, which happened to be his last album, was nominated for the prestigious Latin Grammy.

Towards the end of his career, Cepillin’s sons introduced him to the world of social media. Not surprisingly, he became quite popular on social media platforms, such as TikTok where his videos attracted millions of views. His TikTok account went on to gather more than four million fans. He was also popular on other social media platforms like Instagram where he had more than 190k followers. His YouTube channel Cepillin TV, which was created on August 19, 2008, currently has more than two million subscribers and over 780 million views. Cepillin TV is one of the most viewed YouTube channels in Mexico.

In 1976, Cepillín married Aide Guajardo and remained married to her until his death. The couple had two sons; Ricardo González Jr and Roberto González, and a daughter named Aydé González Guajardo. His sons followed in their father's footsteps and went on to take his legacy forward. In 2005, Cepillín suffered first of three heart attacks. In 2006, he recovered and started performing with his sons for a TV show titled Cepillín Live, which was aired in Monterrey.

A heavy smoker, Cepillín complained of intense back pain in February 2021 and was admitted to a hospital. He underwent a surgery and showed signs of improvement. However, he complained of chest pain in March and was put on a ventilator. He breathed his last on March 8, 2021 and it was revealed that he had been battling spinal cancer. He is survived by his wife, sons, daughter, six siblings, and four grandchildren.