Biography

Menudo was a phenomena that swept through most of the world in the 80's. Menudo consisted of 5 boys (Robi “Draco” Rosa one of th group members has been behind many of Ricky’s hit songs), all from Puerto Rico. You couldn’t be any older than 16 to be in the group, so once you reached that age, you were asked to leave. This was done to keep the group youthful. In 1984, Ricky was only 12 and his dream was to become a member. So Ricky tried out but was initially rejected because he was too short. That didn’t stop Ricky though. By July of the same year, Ricky was at his 3rd attempt at joining the group and finally, they accepted him. In the same month Ricky made his debut with the group at the Centro de Bellas Artes in Puerto Rico. His dream had finally come true. They dubbed him “Little Ricky”. Ricky learned a lot about the industry by being in Menudo. They were very disciplined and had to learn to be away from home for long periods of time at such a young age. Ricky traveled all over the world. His success with Menudo was so great that they toured all of South America and they even lived for a while in Argentina where they filmed the soap opera "Por Siempre Amigos". Ricky's 16th birthday arrived and Ricky moved on from Menudo. He flew back home and finished high school.

In 1989, Ricky flew to New York for a change of scenery during his time off. While he was there he received a call from a friend in Mexico, inviting him to go down to Mexico City. Almost immediately he was offered a part in a stage musical called "Mamá Ama el Rock" (Mom Loves Rock) but his greatest success in Mexico was when he scored the part as Pablo Loredo in Mexico's highest rated TV series Alcanzar una Estrella II (To Reach a Star II). The film version of the series "Más que Alcanzar Una Estrella" won him a Heraldo, the Mexican equivalent of an Oscar. In 1990, Ricky signed with Sony Mexico. In 1991, he released his self-titled album, which went gold in several countries. In 1993, he released his second album titled "Me Amaras".

Ricky moved to Hollywood to connect with English speaking audiences. In 1994 he landed a part in the ABC soap opera "General Hospital" as bartender/nightclub singer Miguel Morez. Ricky had lot of success in the soap. Ricky left the soap opera after 2 years and decided to go back to his music. In 1995 he also released his 3rd album "A Medio Vivir". The hit single "Maria" was first exposed on this particular album. The song and the album combined helped launch Ricky in many countries. The "A Medio Vivir" tour was briefly stopped as Ricky ventured into new waters. Ricky was offered a part in the Broadway musical "Les Miserables" as "Marius". This had been a long time dream for him, but the part only lasted for 3 months. After that, Ricky went back to finish his tour. During this time Ricky was also offered to do tie-in promotional spots with Kelloggs and Pepsi Cola. The success of this campaign was so huge, that PepsiCo signed Ricky to a lucrative contract, naming him "The Celebrity Spokesperson" for 1997. This brought him to Australia to film a commercial with Janet Jackson.
In 1998 Ricky became the voice of Hercules in the Spanish version of the Disney film and also sing the theme song "No Importa La Distancia", that same year he recorded his 4th album "Vuelve". This was the definitive album of Ricky's music career.

1998 was the year of the World Cup for Soccer in France. Ricky along with Menudo friend, Robi Rosa, and producer Desmond Child were asked to write the theme song for the event. The song was "La Copa de la Vida", sung in French, Spanish and English, which was also released on the "Vuelve" album. The song went No. 1 in 22 countries. Ricky was invited to sing the song at the closing ceremony for the games. The ceremony was seen live by a worldwide TV audience of over two billion people! By this time, Ricky no longer was Latin America's best kept secret. He was exposed to the world and the world wanted more!

For the Grammy Awards in February 1999, Ricky was asked to perform his hit single "La Copa De La Vida" at the ceremony. This would be his first exposure to his peers in the American Music Industry, so Ricky knew that he had to give it everything he had to gain acceptance. The night was a huge success. Not only did Ricky win "Best Latin Performance" for the album "Vuelve", he succeeded in being accepted by the American audience. The media branded Ricky an 'overnight sensation' and he became in hot demand and appeared in many magazines such as Time, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone and People Magazine.

His record company, Sony Music, then insisted on having a full English- speaking album released as soon as possible. The result was the release of another self-titled album in May of that year. The album debuted at No. 1 all over the world. It immediately went platinum in Turkey. Later it was certified platinum in over 33 countries. The first single from the album "Livin' La Vida Loca", became a HUGE hit. The word spread fast about this hip thrusting song that was driving everybody wild. "Livin' La Vida Loca" had the highest single week's sales figures of any single released in 1999. It became No. 1 in five international markets including the U.S., the U.K., Canada, New Zealand and Ireland. The next year and a half Ricky embarked on the ride of his life. The "Livin' La Vida Loca" Tour took him all over the world, starting off in the U.S. One round wasn't enough so Ricky did the U.S. again hoping that second time around he did cover all his fans there. Then he went on to Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, London, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand and finally winding up the tour in Australia in October 2000. In between all the touring, Ricky flew back and forth to Miami, to finish recording yet another album. His 5th album "Sound Loaded" again produced hit singles such as "She Bangs", "Loaded" and the duet with Christina Aguilera "Nobody Wants to be Lonely", although this album was not as successful as the previous two. The album still managed to sell 6 million copies worldwide and managed to get to No. 1 in several countries. But after such an extensive tour, Ricky decided to fly home. He took some off to recover from all this excitement.

"La Historia", released in 2001, was a collection of Ricky's greatest hits. The year ended with yet another "Best Of" release. This CD was simply titled "The Best of Ricky Martin". It included songs like "Livin' La Vida Loca", "Maria", "She Bangs", "Shake Your Bon Bon" and "The Cup of Life". In 2002 was the release of "La Historia" DVD.

In 2003 “Almas del Silencio” was released. Ricky has been keeping busy doing humanitarian work. His foundation launched People For The Children. PFC raises awareness about child prostitution, slavery etc. He alsao is helping victims of the tsunami that devastated South East Asia.

In the summer of 2005 “I Don’t Care” was released on the radio. Ricky collaborates with rapper Fat Joe and R&B singer Amerie. Collaborators on the album include Reggeaton super stars Daddy Yankee & Luny Tunes. The new album “Life”, was released on October 11th.

He taped an Unplugged Special in August 2006 for MTV. It aired Wednesday, November 1st 2006 at 10:00 pm on MTV Tr3s. The CD and DVD of the event was released on November 7th 2006. Ricky was honored as Person of the Year by the Latin Academy of Music. He recieved that award at a special tribute dinner in NYC. On November 2nd at the Latin Grammys he performed Tu Recuerdo (with La Mari and Tommy Torres) and then Pégate. Miguel Bosé presented the award to him after the performance. He recently recorded with Bosé a song called "Bambu" which will appear in Bosé's new album entitled "Papito".

Ricky has recorded a duet with Italian singer Eros Ramazzotti titled ''Non Siamo Soli''.

Ricky opened The Latin Grammys November 8th performing with The blue Man Group. He also participated in honoring LARAS 2007 Person Of The Year Juan Luis Guerra.