Enrique Martín Morales, known artistically as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican Latin pop singer and actor born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on December 24, 1971.
In 1984, he joined the popular musical quintet Menudo, which was already well-known in Latin America and other parts of the world. Starting in 1991, when the group, formed in 1977, began to decline, Ricky embarked on his solo career. In Mexico, he appeared in several theater productions, and in 1986 he made his acting debut in the Argentine telenovela Por siempre amigos, alongside the other members of Menudo . In 1991, he acted in the Mexican telenovela Alcanzar una estrella II.
In 1991, with his first studio album, Ricky Martin achieved the number 5 position on the Billboard Latin Pop Albums chart and sold over 500,000 copies of the album in just one month. Singles like "Fuego contra fuego," "Dime que me quieres," and "El amor de mi vida" made him very popular in Cuba, where many of his songs defined the music that Cubans listened to during the 1990s. His third album, "A medio vivir" (1995), included hits like "Te extraño, te olvido, te amo," the title track "A medio vivir," and the phenomenon "María," which marked a turning point in the singer's career. Its remix, featuring spanglish lyrics and Afro-Caribbean rhythms, was a success in Europe and became the second best-selling single in the world that year. The true meaning of the lyrics of this song was highly controversial in the '90s and contributed to its popularity. Although Ricky has always claimed that his song is about an attractive woman named María, many have interpreted it as a clear allusion to cocaine, highlighted by the catchy chorus: “Así es María, blanca como el día, pero es veneno si te quieres enamorar. Así es María, tan caliente y fría, que si te la bebes, de seguro te va a matar.”
With a career already solidifying within Latin pop, Martín was able to perform the official song in both English and Spanish for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. His rendition of the song at the 1999 Grammy Awards was watched by millions in over 40 countries, and he won the Grammy for Best Latin Pop Performance. This track is included in his single. Later that same year, he would achieve great success with his next album, Ricky Martin, in both English and Spanish, which reached number one in the United States and features another of his global hits, Livin' la vida loca.
In 2010, the singer publicly came out as homosexual, provoking a major reaction and becoming an idol within the LGBTQ community, which he has always supported and defended. His advocacy for their rights earned him the Peace Summit Awards in 2019, presented by the global summit of Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
Since 2016, she has been sharing her life with the Swedish-Syrian painter Jwan Yosef, with whom she has four children.
In 2018, he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his role as Versace's lover, Antonio D'Amico, in "American Crime Story: The Assassination Of Gianni Versace."
As a philanthropist, Martin has the Ricky Martin Foundation, through which in 2018 he provided homes in the municipality of Loíza in Puerto Rico to those affected by Hurricane María, which devastated the island a year earlier, raising funds through the sale of t-shirts featuring the faces of his children. He also joined a protest against the amount of donations sent from abroad that had not been distributed.
As a Puerto Rican, he is very supportive of his people and in 2019 he spoke out against the religious freedom bill passed by the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. That same year, on June 9, the day of the National Parade of the country, he had the honor of wearing the "Grand Marshal" sash at the celebration held in The Big Apple.
In 2019, after a chat of the Governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosselló, was leaked—containing messages with homophobic and sexist comments, as well as mentions of politicians, journalists, and famous personalities—the singer called for the unity of Puerto Ricans to bring about a change in direction and traveled to Puerto Rico to join other artists from the country in a protest.
His Latin American sentiment is not limited to Puerto Rico, and at the end of 2019 he also made headlines when, in response to the protests in Chile, he used his social media to send a message to the Chilean president Sebastián Piñera: "President Sebastián Piñera, know that the will of a people must be respected, adhered to, and fulfilled. Listen to your people who are speaking to you emphatically," wrote the Puerto Rican on his Instagram account.
In September 2020, Luis Fonsi and Ricky Martin showed their support for the Democratic presidential candidate in the United States, Joe Biden, during an event held in Florida.
In 2015, Ricky Martin and the Cuban Yotuel Romero, from the popular group Orishas, released the song La mordidita, whose music video has over a billion views on YouTube. Behind the song is the wife of the famous Cuban musician Beatriz Luengo, who is the author of the track. In September 2020, Luengo announced that she and Yotuel had composed the song Quiéreme for the album Pausa, which the Puerto Rican performs alongside the renowned Spanish singer Diego "El Cigala".
In September 2020, it was announced that he was nominated for the Latin Grammys in the categories of Album of the Year for "Pausa," Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Urban Fusion/Performance with the song "Cántalo."
