Ricky Martin

Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales was born on December 24, 1971, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Nereida Morales, a former accountant, and Enrique Martín Negroni, a former psychologist who worked as a regional supervisor for a Puerto Rican mental-health agency. His parents divorced when he was two years old. Though his mother held custody, Martin moved freely between his father's home in the University Gardens suburb of San Juan and his paternal grandmother's nearby residence. He has two older maternal half-brothers, Fernando and Ángel Fernández, two younger paternal half-brothers, Eric and Daniel Martín, and a younger paternal half-sister, Vanessa Martín. Martin has Spanish heritage of Basque and Canarian descent, with his family having traveled from Segovia, Spain to Puerto Rico in 1779, and also has Corsican origins through his paternal grandmother. He grew up Catholic and attended Colegio Sagrado Corazón, a bilingual Catholic grade school in University Gardens.

Martin began singing at age six and started appearing in television commercials at age nine, starring in eleven spots within a year and a half for products including Orange Crush and Burger King. At twelve, after three auditions, he joined the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo in 1984, replacing member Ricky Melendez. His debut performance with the group took place at the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in San Juan. During his time with Menudo, the band released eleven albums, including the Grammy-nominated Evolución (1984), which featured Martin's debut single "Rayo de Luna," and Menudo (1985), which included "Hold Me," the group's only entry on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 62. Martin also appeared with Menudo on the American television series The Love Boat in 1985 and the Argentine soap opera Por Siempre Amigos in 1987. He left the band in July 1989 at age seventeen.

Martin launched his solo career in 1991 with Sony Music Mexico, releasing his first studio album, Ricky Martin (1991), followed by Me Amaras (1993), both focused on ballads that earned him recognition across Latin America. His third album, A Medio Vivir (1995), expanded his reach into European markets, driven by the single "María," which blended multiple Latin music genres and became his first international hit. His fourth album, Vuelve (1998), earned him his first Grammy Award and produced the songs "Vuelve" and "La Copa de la Vida," the latter of which he performed at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards. His first English-language album, Ricky Martin (1999), debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, with the lead single "Livin' la Vida Loca" topping both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. His commercial success in the late 1990s is widely associated with the beginning of the so-called Latin explosion, and he has been credited with bringing Latin pop music to mainstream global recognition.

Subsequent releases included Almas del Silencio (2003), MTV Unplugged (2006), and A Quien Quiera Escuchar (2015), the last of which won a Grammy Award. Notable singles from this period include "She Bangs," "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely," "Tal Vez," "Tu Recuerdo," "La Mordidita," "Vente Pa' Ca," and "Canción Bonita." Over the course of his recording career, Martin has sold more than 70 million records worldwide, scored eleven number-one songs on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart, and accumulated two Grammy Awards, five Latin Grammy Awards, six MTV Video Music Awards, two American Music Awards, three Latin American Music Awards, three Billboard Music Awards, nine Billboard Latin Music Awards, eight World Music Awards, fourteen Lo Nuestro Awards, a Guinness World Record, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

As an actor, Martin appeared in the soap opera General Hospital from 1994 to 1996, and his portrayal of Antonio D'Amico in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (2018) earned him an Emmy nomination. His Broadway career spans from 1987 to 2012, during which he appeared in Les Misérables and starred in the Broadway revival of Evita in 2012, playing the role of Ché. His performance in Evita earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Musical.

Beyond his entertainment career, Martin founded The Ricky Martin Foundation in 2004, a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to combating human trafficking and raising awareness of the crime. His philanthropic and activist work also encompasses LGBT rights advocacy.