Ricky Martin life and biography

Ricky Martin is one of the world's biggest entertainers, and part of the Latin flavored pop explosion seen over the last few years. Among his most succesful songs are "Livin' La Vida Loca", "She Bangs", "Shake Your Bon-Bon", "She's All I Ever Had" and "Nobody Wants To Be Lonely" with Christina Aguilera.

In March of 2010, Ricky Martin finally announced to the world that he is in fact gay via his website. "I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am," said Martin.

Born Enrique Jose Martin Morales IV, on December 24, 1971, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Martin began appearing in commercials on local television at the age of six. He auditioned three times for the teen singing group Menudo before finally earning a spot in 1984. In his five years with Menudo, Martin toured around the world, singing in several languages. He reached the group's age limit of 18 in 1989, and returned to Puerto Rico just long enough to finish high school before moving to New York to pursue a solo acting and singing career. His debut solo album, Ricky Martin was released in 1988 by the Sony Latin division, followed by a second effort Me Amaras in 1989.

Martin traveled to Mexico to appear in a stage musical; the gig led to a role as a singer on the 1992 Spanish-language telenovela, Alcanzar una Estrella, or "To Reach a Star." The show proved so popular that he reprised the role in a movie version of the serial. In 1993, Martin moved to Los Angeles, where he made his American TV debut in the NBC sitcom Getting By. From 1995 to 1995 he acted on ABC's daytime soap opera, General Hospital and in 1996 he starred in the Broadway production of Les Miserables.

While Martin was actively pursuing his acting career, he was also recording and releasing albums and making concert appearances. He had become well known in his native Puerto Rico and among the Latin/Hispanic community as a whole. His third album, A Medio Vivir, came out in 1997, the same year that he lent his voice to the Spanish-language version of Disney's animated feature, Hercules. His fourth album, Vuelve, released in 1998, featured the hit single, "La Copa de la Vida" ("The Cup of Life"), which Martin performed at the 1998 World Cup soccer tournament in France, as part of a showcase broadcast to two billion people around the world.

At the Grammy Awards in February 1999, Martin, already a global pop sensation, gave a sizzling performance of "La Copa de la Vida" at Los Angeles's Shrine Auditorium just before picking up an award for Best Latin Pop Performance for Vuelve. He followed up on his star-making Grammy night with the release of his phenomenally successful first English single, "Livin? La Vida Loca," and his album, Ricky Martin, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart. Martin was also featured on the cover of Time magazine and credited with helping to bring a growing Latin cultural influence into the mainstream of American pop music.

To add to the phenomenal popular success of his debut English album and single, Martin was nominated in four categories at the Grammy Awards, held in February 2000. Although he lost in all four categories - to veteran male pop artist Sting (Best Pop Album, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance) and Santana, the band led by resurgent guitarist Carlos Santana (Song of the Year, Record of the Year) - Martin delivered another red-hot live performance, a year after his triumphant Grammy debut.

In November 2000, Martin released Sound Loaded, the much-anticipated follow-up album to Ricky Martin. Its hit single, "She Bangs," earned Martin yet another Grammy nomination, for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

In recent years, Martin has continued making music-both in Spanish and English. His greatest Spanish-language hits were compiled on La Historia (2001). This was followed two years later by Almas del Silencio, which contained new material sung in Spanish. The album Life (2005) was his first English-language album since 2000. The album did reasonably well, reaching the top 10 of Billboard's album charts. Martin, however, has yet to be able to recapture the same level of pop success he achieved with previous albums.

Ricky Martin's autobiography, Me, was published on November 2, 2010. The book became The New York Times Best Seller list, debuting at number five on the Hardcover Nonfiction list. A Spanish-language edition entitled Yo was published simultaneously.

Martin's new single, "The Best Thing About Me Is You" featuring Joss Stone also premiered on November 2, 2010 and peaked at number seventy-four on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Spanish version, "Lo Mejor de Mi Vida Eres Tú" topped the Hot Latin Songs for two weeks.
It was followed by a new studio album, Música + Alma + Sexo released on January 31, 2011. It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and became the highest charting, primarily-Spanish language album in the United States, since Dreaming of You by Selena.
It spent two weeks at number one on the Billboard Top Latin Albums.
On March 25, 2011, Martin started his Música + Alma + Sexo World Tour, which will end on November 12, 2011.
The second single from the album, "Más" was released on April 5, 2011 and peaked at number seven on the Hot Dance Club Songs. "Frío" featuring Wisin & Yandel was chosen as the third single.
17: Greatest Hits was released on July 11, 2011 exclusively in the United Kingdom.

Martin is certainly not lonely. He has a slew of music awards sitting on his mantle, his family and friends surrounding him, and ex girlfriends which he seems to still be friends with, like his former General Hospital co-star, Lilly Melgar, as well as his on again, off again girlfriend of 10 years, Rebecca de Alba, a Mexican TV personality. If that's not enough, he also has both female and male admirers on account of his sexuality, which he is adamant about keeping behind closed doors.
Martin's twin sons, Matteo and Valentino, were born via a surrogate mother in 2008.

He may be a private person, but on stage, he's a pelvis-thrusting, highly energetic performer that has contributed to his status as a multiple award-winning musician, who has already sold more than 32 million albums and 8 million singles worldwide.

Martin also shares his wealth; he is an active supporter of charitable organizations such as the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the Carousel of Hope, and the Rainforest Foundation.

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