Ricky Martin

Ricky Martin (born Enrique Martín Morales on December 24, 1971 in Santurce, Puerto Rico), is a successful Latin American pop singer who rose to fame, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1990. He is considered a major star in the world of Latin Pop, and is considered to have opened the doors for some of his fellow Latin American singers like Enrique Iglesias, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, and Juanes. Livin' La Vida Loca made Ricky the first Latin American singer in history to have a U.K. number one hit.

Biography

Born to now-divorced parents Nerieda Morales and Enrique Martin Snr., Ricky Martin has four siblings: Fernando, Vanessa, Eric and Angel. As a child he participated in school extra-curricular activities and sang in the school choir, where he began to realize that his talent captivated the audiences. Through the encouragement of his dad, he began to take voice lessons, and auditioned for television advertising spots.

Martin first achieved worldwide success with his selection to replace Ricky Melendez in the Latin boy band Menudo from 1984 until 1989. His meteoric ascent to fame started in Menudo's homebase, Caguas, site of his first concert. He signed with Sony in 1990.

After he left Menudo, he decided to continue his career. He moved to Mexico City where he started acting, first in theater in productions like Mamá ama el rock, and Mama Ama el Rock with Angélica María and Angélica Vale. He starred in telenovelas such as Alcanzar una estrella II and performed in the music group Muñecos de papel of that production with Sasha Sokol, Pedro Fernández, Erick Rubín, Angélica Rivera and Bibi Gaytán. In 1994, he moved to Los Angeles, California. He received a role as bartender (Miguel Morez) in the American soap opera General Hospital.

Ricky then established himself in Miami and began collaborating with music creator Desmond Child, former Menudo band-mate Robi Draco Rosa, K.C. Porter and Puerto Rican agent Angelo Medina. With these 2 in tow, Ricky created his first hit single in 1996 called "María". The song was in Spanish but had great success in the charts worldwide. After the big success of "María" and the conclusion of his busy schedule of giving concerts around the world in many countries, he came back to the studio and recorded his next album called Vuelve, while appearing in his first ever Broadway production, as the romantic lead, Marius Pontmercy in Les Miserables. Then, he was chosen to sing the anthem of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, the famous hit "The Cup of Life"/"La Copa de La Vida" that became one of the most explosive hits of the 90s, reaching #1 on the charts in 60 countries.

After satisfying his fans with his Spanish material for years worldwide, he prepared his first English album. The album was self-titled and crafted by some of the music industry's most outstanding producers, such as Desmond Child, Dianne Warren, William Orbit and his long time childhood friend (producer/singer) Robi Draco Rosa. Also, the album had special guests, such as the queen of pop Madonna (on the Spanglish duet "Be Careful (Cuidado con mi Corazon)") and Meja (on the single of his album called "Private Emotion"). The first and most prominent single was the unforgettable "Livin' La Vida Loca," which became a colossal hit, climbing to #1 in many different countries and continents around the world, including the U.S., the U.K., Australia, France, Italy, Greece, Israel,Brazil, Russia, South Africa, India, Mexico,Argentina and Japan. This album became one of the top albums of 1999, staying at the #1 spot of the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart in the U.S. for weeks, receiving great critical approval and making him a Latin pop phenomenon around the world.

On October 11, 2005 Martin released his first English language album since 2000's Sound Loaded and the tenth album of his career. Most of the songs on the album, called Life, were co-written by Martin. Martin feels that the album is one of his more personal albums, saying "I was really in touch with my emotions. I think this album is very multi-layered, just like life is. It's about feeling anger. It's about feeling joy. It's about feeling uncertainty. It's about cuping a feeling. It's about feeling. And all my emotions are part of this production." The album debuted at #6 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The first single from the album was "I Don't Care"/"Que Mas Da," featuring guest appearances by Fat Joe and Amerie. The song did pretty well but grabbed more attention in Europe. After the success of I Don't Care, Ricky Martin announced his Latin American tour called Una Noche Con Ricky Martin, promoting his latest album Life. Starting in Latin America, the tour kicked-off on November 15th in Mexico City. After finishing the first leg of the tour (which included Latin America and the U.S.), he released his next single, "It's Alright" (Spanish Version: Dejate Llevar). A different version appeared in France which included additional vocals by French Hip-Hop singer Matt Pokora. The song went to number 1 in France.

Ricky Martin performed at the 2006 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony in Turin. A few days later, he announced the second leg of his world tour (which included Europe and Africa) called One Night Only/Una Noche Con Ricky Martin World Tour. The second leg started on April 21st in Manchester, U.K. and will end on June 3rd in Tel Aviv, Israel. In addition he will also perform at the World Cup Fan Party in Berlin (Brandenburger Tor) on June 7, 2006, and at Lebanon's Beiteddine Festival on May 27 at the Biel seafront hall in Beirut, his first concert in the Arab world following a promise to Queen Noor on his 2005 visit to the Arab Conference in Jordan.

In response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Ricky Martin, through his foundation helped build 110 houses for displaced children in Phuket. In April 2006, Martin embarked on a joint venture between the Ricky Martin Foundation and Microsoft. As part of this historic partnership, called Navega Protegido, the Goodwill Ambassador to UNICEF, taped three educational multimedia videos (each one in English, Spanish and Portuguese). The videos aim to provide minors, parents and teachers useful tools to protect themselves against sexual predators, identity theft, child pornography and violent content, among other risks in the Internet. This follows his 2005 Spanish-language television campaign against trafficking in persons in general, and child trafficking and sexual exploitation in particular.

Trivia

Ricky Martin is left-handed.

Ricky Martin gave an interview with Blender Magazine in which he stated that he enjoyed " Golden Showers"^*.

Ricky has adopted three girls from the Kolkata region of India.

Discography

Albums

Ricky Martin (1991 version) - WW Sales: 1,000.000
Me Amarás (1993) - WW Sales: 1 million
A Medio Vivir (1995) - WW Sales: 7 million
Vuelve (1998) - #40 US, WW Sales: 12 million
Ricky Martin (1999 version) - #1 US, #2 UK, WW Sales: 17 million
Sound Loaded (2000) - #4 US, #14 UK, WW Sales: 7 million
La Historia (2001) - #83 US, WW Sales: 3 million
The Best of Ricky Martin (2001) - WW Sales: 1.5 million
Almas del Silencio (2003) - #12 US, WW Sales: 4 million
Life (2005) #6 US, #40 UK, WW Sales: 1,600.000

Singles

From Ricky Martin:

1991 - "Fuego Contra Fuego"

From A Medio Vivir:

1996 - "(Un, Dos, Tres) María" #88 US, #6 UK, #1 FR (9 weeks), #7 Australia
1996 - "A Medio Vivir"
1996 - "Te Extraño, Te Olvido, Te Amo" #4 FR
1996 - "Bombón De Azúcar"
1996 - "Fuego De Noche, Nieve De Día"
1998 - "Volveras" #48 FR

From Vuelve:

1998 - "La Bomba" #27 Australia, #45 FR
1998 - "Por Arriba, Por Abajo"
1998 - "Vuelve"

From Ricky Martin (1999 version):

1998 - "The Cup of Life" #45 US, #29 UK, #1 FR (6 weeks), #1 Australia (6 weeks) - The Biggest Hit of 1998.
1999 - "Livin la Vida Loca"- #1 US (5 weeks), #1 UK (3 weeks), #4 Australia, #7 FR
1999 - "She's All I Ever Had" / "Bella" - #2 US, #28 Australia
1999 - "Shake Your Bon-Bon" - #22 US, #12 UK, #27 Australia
1999 - "Private Emotion" (featuring Meja) - #67 US, #9 UK, #11 FR

From Sound Loaded:

2000 - "She Bangs" - #12 US, #3 UK, #3 Australia, #36 FR
2001 - "Nobody Wants To Be Lonely" (with Christina Aguilera) - #13 US, #4 UK, #8 Australia, #1 New Zealand, #28 FR
2001 - "Loaded" / "Dame Más" - #97 US, #19 UK

From Almas del Silencio:

2003 - "Jaleo" #32 FR
2003 - "Tal Vez" #1 US (Only on "Latin Charts", not Billboard Hot 100)
2003 - "Juramento"
2004 - "Y Todo Queda En Nada"
2004 - "Asignatura Pendiente"

From Life:

2005 - "I Don't Care" (feat. Fat Joe & Amerie) - #65 US, #11 UK, #16 FR, #25 Australia
2006 - "It's Alright" (Spanish Version: Dejate Llevar) - #17 Finland
2006 - "It's Alright" (featuring Matt Pokora)- English/French version (Released only in France) #1 FR, #18 Switzerland
2006 - "Drop It On Me"

Accomplishments

Ricky was chosen, along with Félix Trinidad in 1999, to lead Puerto Rico's worldwide tourism campaign, both exemplifying Puerto Rico's youthfulness, enthusiasm and indefatigable character.

A Unicef ambassador, Ricky founded the Ricky Martin Foundation in 2002 and created a project called People For Children, which aims to eliminate the industry of sexual exploitationand trafficking of children worldwide. His first benefit was held in Mexico City on November 10, 2005. He has also participated in other benefit concerts, including performing with Pavarotti and Friends in 1999.

In September of 2002, Ricky received a Hispanic Heritage Award for his humanitarian work through the Sabera Foundation in rescuing three orphan girls from the streets of Calcutta.

In February of 2004, Martin received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Premios Lo Nuestro in Miami.

For his work against human trafficking, the U.S. State Department named Martin one of its "Heroes in Ending Modern-Day Slavery" in 2005

Nominated one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World by People Magazine and People en Español in 2000 and 2006.

References

External links

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