Ricky Martin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2008)
Ricky Martin

Background information
Birth name Enrique José Martín Morales
Also known as Ricky Martin
Born December 24, 1971 (1971-12-24) (age 36)
Origin San Juan, Puerto Rico
Genre(s) Pop, Latin, Reggaeton
Occupation(s) singer, actor
Instrument(s) Voice
Years active 1984–present
Label(s) Sony Music and Columbia
Associated acts Menudo

Enrique José Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), better known by his stage name Ricky Martin, 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 more 55 million albums around the world.[1], charting 21 top-ten hits on the U.S. Latin Charts, eight of which reached number one, and a total of over 30 hit singles.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Martin was born on December 24, 1971, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the only child of his mother, Nereida Morales, who was an accountant; his father Enrique Martín Negroni, was a psychologist. His parents divorced when he was two, and both later remarried, giving Martin three more step-siblings from his father's second marriage. Though no one in his family was connected to show business, Martin was drawn to the spotlight as a child.

[edit] Career

[edit] Menudo

At the age of 12, Martin 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 Martin was 17, however, he left the group and returned to Puerto Rico to complete high school.

[edit] Solo Career

After completing high school, Martin left San Juan and moved to New York. Later, Martin moved to Mexico City where he started acting, first in theater productions, and then in a soap opera ("telenovela") titled Alcanzar una estrella II (Reach for a Star). A film based on the series was produced in which Martin played "Pablo," earning a Heraldo Award in 1993.

While acting in Mexico, Martin was signed to Sony Discos, the company's Latin imprint, in 1990. He 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, Martin released his second solo album, Me Amaras, 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.

In 1995, Martin refocused on his music career through his third album, A Medio Vivir. With this album, Martin made a shift from formulaic hit ballads to a more risky fusion of music centered around traditional Latin sounds. With the hit "Maria", which epitomizes this new sound, and the ballad "Te Extraño,te olvido te amo", Martin began his expansion from Latin American and Spanish-speaking audiences to the European and Asian markets.

[edit] Broadway

After the conclusion of a worldwide tour, Martin returned to New York to appear in a Broadway production for the first time. He played the romantic lead, Marius Pontmercy, in Les Miserables.

While on Broadway, Martin returned to the studio and recorded his fourth album, Vuelve, which was certified platinum by the RIAA and went on 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 60 countries.

[edit] Crossover to English

After several years as a major star in Spanish-speaking countries, Martin 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 longtime childhood friend (producer/singer) Robi Draco Rosa. The album also featured special guests 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 sold two million copies in the USA.

In 2001, Martin 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 fuego and El amor de mi 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.

In 2003, Martin released a new Spanish album "Almas del Silencio" ("Souls of Silence"). 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."[2] 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 [3].

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. He commented on the album: "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 feeling. And all my emotions are part of this production."[4] The album debuted at number six on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The first single from the album was "I Don't Care"/"Qué Más Da", featuring guest appearances by Fat Joe and Amerie.

Another single was released "Drop It on Me", which did not chart. Soon after, Martin announced his Latin American tour called Una Noche con Ricky Martin/One Night Only, promoting his latest album Life. Starting in Latin America, the tour premiered on November 15 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: "Déjate Llevar"). A different version appeared in France, which included additional vocals by French R&B singer M. Pokora. The song went to number 4 in France.[5]

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 21 in Manchester, U.K., and ended on June 3 in Tel Aviv, Israel, including shows that sold-out in two hours (Italy and Finland). In addition, he performed 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 and on May 28 in Egypt , his first concerts in the Arab world following a promise to Queen Noor on his 2005 visit to the Arab Conference in Jordan. During this visit, he recorded an Arabic/Spanglish version of "Drop It on Me", "Enta Omri" with Arabic pop star Cheb Mami. He and Enta were a touring duo. Their anticipated 8 month tour ended early due to a lack of advertising.

In 2007, Martin began a international promotional tour titled Blanco y Negro.[6] Which included a performance at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum and concluded with a presentation at the Madison Square Garden on October 14, 2007.[6] Highlights from the tour would be subsecuently released in a CD/DVD released on November 6, 2007.[6]

[edit] MTV Diary and MTV Unplugged

MTV aired "MTV Diary: Ricky Martin" in November 2006, showcasing scenes from the "One Night Only" tour, on the road and onstage. MTV Latin America and MTV Tr3s co-produced the "Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged" show to be taped in Miami on August 17th, 2006 and premiered on MTV Latin America, MTV Tr3s and MTV Puerto Rico in October 2006.

"Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged" was released by Sony BMG on November 7, 2006 in both separate CD and DVD formats, and in May 2007, was re-released together in a CD/DVD combo-package. Available exclusively at Wal-Mart with the original CD purchase is a separate Ricky Martin DVD titled "Making of Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged", which includes a 40 minute behind the scenes documentary and the music video to "Tu Recuerdo". (It should be noted the music video for "Tu Recuerdo" is just an extracted live performance of the song from MTV Unplugged.)

The first single of the album, "Tu Recuerdo", featuring La Mari from Chambao, reached number one on the U.S. Latin Charts. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Latin Charts and number thirty-eight on Billboard 200.

This album includes Puerto Rican influences, particularly "Tu Recuerdo" (based mainly on a Puerto Rican "aguinaldo jíbaro",[7] and finishing with an "aguinaldo orocoveño"[8]) and "Pégate", a Puerto Rican plena. Christian Nieves plays the Puerto Rican cuatro on both tracks.

[edit] Personal life

Martin 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.

Quote: "I don't think it's necessary to either say I'm gay or I'm straight. I can't get hung up on people whose lives are that empty," he said in the People magazine. "I'm an artist and you can fantasize about me however you want."[cite this quote]

[edit] Social work

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

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

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

[edit] Politics

Martin was a headliner in the 2001 inauguration ball for President George W. Bush, he even invited the newly elected president to join him on stage to dance. This image was captured by photographers and broadcast in various media throughout the world. Martin would even go so far as to reference it in a later song Asignatura Pendiente.

Martin changed his position on the President. In a concert in Puerto Rico during the song Asignitura Pendiente Martin 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. Martin 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".[9]

[edit] Television appearances

[edit] Discography

Main article: Ricky Martin discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

[edit] Accomplishments

In addition to the numerous awards received throughout his musical career, Martin 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.

  • Martin 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 February 2004, Martin received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Lo Nuestro Awards in Miami, Florida.
  • Martin 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 Martin's charitable efforts.
  • On October 16, 2007, Martin received the 2351st Hollywood Walk of Fame star,[10] shortly after receiving the key to the city of Miami Beach, Florida on October 11. The star is located besides the Hollywood and Highland complex. Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Rita Moreno were invited to the unveiling ceremony.[6]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Ricky Martin: Artist Bio. myplay.com.
  2. ^ Livin' The Serious Life; Ricky Martin's New Album Matches His Outlook
  3. ^ Adams, Steve: "Martin's World View", Billboard magazine, November 4, 2006, p. 64-66.
  4. ^ Ricky Martin Lets 'Life' Happen
  5. ^ Classement des 100 Singles Classement des meilleures ventes de singles réalisé par l'IFOP pour le SNEP
  6. ^ a b c d (2007-10-14) "Flash!/Cine", Ricky Martin: Bien ubicada su estrella (in Spanish). Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día, 94. 
  7. ^ http://www.cuatro-pr.org/Home/Audio/Indexaudio/Instrmusaudio/Genres/Seises/seisesvidal/27Aguinaldojibaro.mp3 A sound sample of an aguinaldo jíbaro, played by cuatro player Efraín Vidal
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ "Singer Ricky Martin 'Fingers' Bush for Iraq Criticism". Associated Press, February 16, 2007.
  10. ^ Ricky Martin gets Walk of Fame star - Boston.com

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:


v • d • e
Ricky Martin
Studio albums
Compilation and live albums
Related articles
Persondata
NAME Martin, Ricky
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Morales, Enrique José Martín
SHORT DESCRIPTION Singer, actor
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH San Juan, Puerto Rico
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH