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Ricky Martin Profile |
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Birth Date: December 24, 1971
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Birth Place: San Juan, Puerto Rico
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Birth Name: Enrique Martin Morales
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Height: 6'0"
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Biography |
Ricky Martin is a successful Puerto Rican 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, Shakira and Juanes. Livin' La
Vida Loca made Ricky the first Latin American singer in
history to have a U.K. number one hit.
He attended Sagrado Corazón School and was an average
student. 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 father, 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 Los tenis
Rojos 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. 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 connected with
music creator Desmond Child, former Menudo band-mate Robi
Draco Rosa 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 a great success in
the charts worldwide. After the big success of "María" and
his busy schedule around the world giving concerts in many
countries he came back to studio and recorded his next album
called Vuelve, then he was chosen to sing the Anthem of the
FIFA World Cup in 1998, the famous hit "The Cup Of Life"/"La
Copa de La Vida" that became one of the most explosive hits
of the 90's reaching great peaks in charts worldwide. After
satisfying the audience and fans with his spanish material
for years worldwide, he prepared his first English debut
album. The album was selftitled and produced by many
excellent producers in the music industry as Desmond Child,
Dianne Warren, William Orbit and his long time childhood
friend (producer/singer) Robi Draco Rosa. Also the album had
special guests, 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
markable single was the unforgettable hit "Livin' La Vida
Loca" which became a bombastic hit climbing at #1 in many
different countries and continents around the world,
including the U.S., the U.K, Australia, France, Italy,
Greece, Israel and Japan. This album became one of the best
albums of 1999 staying in the #1 peak of the Billboard Top
200 Albums chart in the U.S. for weeks receiving the best
critics and made him a Latin Pop Fenomenon around the world.
On October 11, 2005 Martin came out with 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
of the album, "I Don't Care"/"Que Mas Da" featuring guest
appearances by Fat Joe and Amerie. The song did it
pretty-well but grabbed more the attention in Europea. 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 from Latin
America, the tour kicked-off on November 15th in Mexico
City. After finishing the first leg of the tour (including
the Latin America and the U.S.) he released his next single,
"It's Alright" (Spanish Version: Dejate Llevar). In France
appeared a different version including additional vocals by
french Hip-Hop singer Matt Pokora. The song reached the TOP
10 in France.
Ricky Martin performed at the 2006 Winter Olympics Closing
Ceremony in Turin. Few days after he announced the second
leg of his world tour (including Europe and Africa) called
One Night Only World Tour. The second leg, starting April
21th from Manchester, U.K and ending on June 3rd in Tel
Aviv, Israel. More dates to be announced. |
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Other Information |
Named one of "People" magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People
[1999]
Turned down a part opposite Jennifer Lopez in West Side
Story
Singer.
Had a cameo in the film "Idle Hands", but the scene was
deleted. He can still be seen in the background at the
Burger Jungle carpark.
Sings the Spanish version of "Go the distance", main theme
of Hercules (1997)
Opened a restaurant in Miami beach, 'Casa Salsa' in 1999.
The restaurant was later closed.
Is a vegetarian.
His nickname among his immediate family members is Kiki.
Ricky has created the "Ricky Martin Foundation" which gave a
million dollar worth of musical instrument to Puerto Rican
public schools. The Foundation is also deeply involved in
helping children who are victim of child prostitution and/or
pornography, especially in India but also all around the
world. According to Ricky, "this is the biggest problem our
society is going to face within the next 10 years".
Speaks 5 languages: Spanish, English, Portuguese, French &
Italian. |
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