Ricky Martin Music Video Spotlight!!

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Enrique José Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), better known as Ricky Martín, is a Grammy Award and Latin Grammy Award-winning Puerto Rican pop singer who rose to fame, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991. He has sold almost 48 million albums around the world,[1] charting twenty one top-ten hits on the U.S. Latin Charts, eight of which reached number one, and a total of over thirty hit singles.

 

Martín was born on December 24, 1971, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the only child of Enrique Martín, a psychologist, and Nereida Morales, an accountant, who also had two children from her first marriage. His parents divorced when he was two, and both later remarried, giving Martín three more step-siblings from his father's second marriage. Though no one in his family was connected to show business, Martín was drawn to the spotlight as a child, telling his father at age six that he wanted to perform.

 

Career

At the age of 12 , Martín auditioned to become a member of the band Menudo, a manufactured Latin pop group composed of young Hispanic adolescent musicians who were rotated out of the group as they advanced into their teen years. When Martín was 17, therefore, he left the group and returned to Puerto Rico to complete high school. After Martín left San Juan and moved to the United States and then to Mexico City where he started acting, first in theater productions, and then in a soap opera ("telenovella") titled Alcanzar una Estrella (Reach for a Star). A film based on the series was produced, and for his role in the big screen version, Martín earned a Heraldo Award in 1993--the Mexican equivalent of the Academy Award. In the meantime, he was signed to Sony Discos, the company's Latin imprint, in 1990 and released his first solo album, the Spanish-language Ricky Martin, in 1991, which included the single "Fuego Contra Fuego". The hit release earned gold records in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rico, and the United States, and he performed a string of sold-out concert dates across South America.

In 1993, Ricky Martín released his first solo album Me Amarás, which sold more than a million copies worldwide. In 1994, he moved to Los Angeles, California. He received a role as bartender (Miguel Morez) in the American soap opera General Hospital.

After the conclusion of a world wide concert tour, Martín returned to the studio and recorded his fourth album called Vuelve, while appearing for the first time in a Broadway production, as the romantic lead, Marius Pontmercy in Les Miserables. "Vuelve" was certified platinum by the RIAA and went to sell eight million copies worldwide. 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 reached number one on the charts in sixty countries.

After several years as a major star in Spanish-speaking countries, Martín prepared his first English album in 1999. The self-titled album contained material by producers such as Desmond Child, Diane Warren, William Orbit and his long time childhood friend (producer/singer) Robi Draco Rosa. The album also featured special guests such as Madonna (on the Spanish-English duet "Be Careful (Cuidado con mi Corazón)") and Sertab Erener (on the single of his album called "Private Emotion"). The first and most prominent single was "Livin' La Vida Loca," which reached number one in many countries around the world, including the U.S., the U.K., Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Turkey, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Guatemala, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa. This album became one of the top-selling albums of 1999, and was certified 7 times platinum, selling over 17 million copies worldwide.

After the success of Ricky Martin, a new English-language album, Sound Loaded, was released in November 2000. Though the album did debut in the top ten (number four), it failed to reach number one. Three singles were released from Sound Loaded: the first was "She Bangs", which was followed by a duet with Christina Aguilera called "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely". Unlike the first two singles released from Ricky Martin, neither of the first two singles from this album reached the U.S. Top Ten on Billboard's Hot 100; they reached twelve and thirteen respectively. The third single, "Loaded" reached ninety-seven on Billboard's Hot 100. Sound Loaded eventually shipped two million copies in the USA.

In 2001, Martín released a Spanish Greatest Hits album entitled La Historia, which went to number one in the Latin Charts and stayed there for five weeks. The album contained reworkings of two of his early songs Fuego contra fruego and El amor de me vida.

In the same year, he released his English greatest hits album, The Best of Ricky Martin, which went on to sell over one million copies. The album contained no new material save for two remixes of the track Amor. Both remixes were released to radio in some European countries and a cd single was also released.

Martín was a headliner in the 2001 inauguration ball for President George W. Bush, he even invited the newly elected president to join him onstage to dance. This image was captured by photographers and broadcast in various media throughout the world. Martín would even go so far as to reference it in a later song Asignitura Pendiente. Martín's performance and his approval of the president caused a rift between him and his song writer partner Robi Rosa who was quoted as saying "Singing 'The Cup of Life' at George Bush's inauguration is like playing the fiddle while Rome burns".[2]

Martín changed his position on the President. In a concert in Puerto Rico during the song Asignitura Pendiente Martín thrust his middle finger disapprovingly in the air while singing the line "photo with Bush". The gesture met with audience approval but caused a minor controversy with the media. Martín said in an e-mail statement sent to the Associated Press via a spokesman: "My convictions of peace and life go beyond any government and political agenda and as long as I have a voice onstage and offstage, I will always condemn war and those who promulgate it".[3]

In 2003, Martín released a new Spanish album Almas del Silencio. The first single, "Tal Vez", went to number one on the Latin Charts and stayed there for twelve weeks. He said of the new album: "I really needed to go back to focus, to my center, to the beginning. I had the need to search within, and really dig deep, and find those emotions that, because of the adrenaline and the euphoria that I lived for a couple of years, were probably sabotaged."[1] Almas del Silencio debuted at number twelve on the Billboard 200, reached number one on the Latin Albums charts and stayed there for six weeks. The next singles, "Jaleo" and "Y Todo Queda en Nada", reached number one on the Latin Charts, and the album sold more than 1 million copies worldwide [1] and finishing with an "aguinaldo orocoveño"[4]) and "Pégate", a Puerto Rican plena. Christian Nieves plays the Puerto Rican cuatro on both tracks.

Martín, the Goodwill Ambassador to UNICEF, established the Ricky Martín Foundation in Puerto Rico to advocate for the welfare of children around the world.

Ricky Martín has also collaborated with the International Organization for Migration on the "Llama y Vive" (Call and Live), a campaign which is aimed to facilitate prevention of human trafficking, protection of the youngest victims of child trafficking, and prosecution of the traffickers.

 

Television appearances

• Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd (2003) — as himself (guest appearance in season 6)
• General Hospital (1996) (television series) — Miguel Morez (unknown episodes, 1994-95)
• Les Miserables (1994) (television series) — Marius
• Alcanzar una estrella (1991) (television series)

 

Discography For more details on this topic, see Ricky Martin discography.

• 1991: Ricky Martin
• 1993: Me Amaras
• 1995: A Medio Vivir
• 1998: Vuelve (Latin platinum)
• 1999: Ricky Martin
• 2000: Sound Loaded (2x platinum)
• 2001: La Historia (2x Latin platinum)
• 2003: Almas del Silencio (2x Latin platinum)
• 2005: Life
• 2006: MTV Unplugged
• 2007: Black & White Tour

 

Accomplishments

In addition to the numerous awards received throughout his musical career, Martín has also been honored with many accolades for his humanitarian efforts including: the Leadership in the Arts Award, Billboard's Spirit of Hope Award, the Alma Award, Vanguard Award, and the International Humanitarian Award by the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

• Martín 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.
• In September 2002, Martín 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 2004, Martín received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Premios Lo Nuestro in Miami, Florida.
• For his work against human trafficking, the U.S. State Department named Martín one of its "Heroes in Ending Modern-Day Slavery" in 2005.
• Martín has been nominated one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World by People magazine and its sister magazine People en Español in 2000 and 2006 respectively.
• Martín was honored as the 2006 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year by The Latin Recording Academy on November 1, 2006. He was chosen for his accomplishments as a world renowned entertainer, consummate performer and passionate humanitarian. A portion of the proceeds from the evening's tribute dinner was used benefit Ricky Martín's charitable efforts.
• On October 16, 2007, Martín received the 2351st Hollywood Walk of Fame star.[5]
• Martin received the key to the city of Miami Beach, Florida on October 11
• Martin's sexuality is currently under speculation from many fans around the world.

He once admitted loving to give golden showers, but later said he regrets the comment. [6]

 

Notes

1. ^ a b Adams, Steve: "Martin's World View", Billboard magazine, November 4, 2006, p. 64-66.
2. ^ "Bush Whacked by Ricky Martin", Miami New Times, 17 May 2007. Archived article.
3. ^ "Singer Ricky Martin 'Fingers' Bush for Iraq Criticism". Associated Press, February 16, 2007.
4. ^ http://www.cuatro-pr.org/Home/Audio/Indexaudio/Instrmusaudio/Genres/Seises/seisesvidal/8Aguinaldoorocoveno.mp3 A sound sample of an aguinaldo orocoveño, played by cuatro player Efraín Vidal
5. ^ http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2007/10/16/ricky_martin_gets_walk_of_fame_star/
6. ^ http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/martin%20gets%20hollywood%20star_1046911

 

See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans
• List of best selling music artists
• Pop Latino

 

External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ricky Martín

• Ricky Martin at the Internet Movie Database
• Ricky Martin Official Website (Sony Music)
• Ricky Martin Foundation Official Website
• Ricky Martin at MySpace
• Ricky Martin Music

Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since December 2006 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1971 births | Puerto Rican singers | Puerto Rican male singers | Puerto Rican actors | Puerto Rican stage actors | Puerto Rican soap opera actors | Puerto Rican vegetarians | Actor-singers | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Humanitarians | Menudo members | American dance musicians | American male singers | American actor-singers | American vegetarians | Soap opera actors | Spanish-language singers | People from Miami | Philanthropists | Grammy Award winners | Living people | Puerto Rican capoeira practitioners | People from San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

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