Ricky Martin Biography

Early Life of Ricky Martin 

Ricky Martin was born Enrique Martin Morales on December 24, 1971, in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Nereida Morales, an accountant, and Enrique Martín Negroni, a psychologist. He holds Puerto Rico and Spain citizenship and belongs to the Caucasian ethnicity.

He was just two years old when his parents divorced and he spent most of his childhood shifting between his fathers and paternal grandmothers house. He has one sibling and two maternal half-brothers,  Ángel Fernández and Fernando, two older paternal half-brothers, Eric and Daniel Martín, and a younger paternal half-sister, Vanessa Martín.

Martin was raised in a Roman Catholic family and was an altar boy throughout his childhood. He started singing at the age of six and took acting lessons as well started performing in school plays and choir soon after. By eight, he was appearing in TV commercials for soft drinks, fast-food restaurants, and toothpaste. 

Ricky Martin's Career

Ricky Martin professional career started after he gets selected in the Latin boy-band Menudo in 1984 after three auditions. After a month he performed at the Luis A. Ferre Performing Arts Center, San Juan. He served as the lead singer of the band for the next five years and toured different places in various languages.

In 1989, he left the group after recording 11 albums and returned to Puerto Rico in order to complete his high school. He, then, went to Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, New York City, to learn acting and singing.

However, he dropped out college and moved to Mexico to perform onstage in ‘Mama Ama el Rock’ and in Mexican telenovela ‘Alcanzar una Estrella’. In 1991, he released his debut solo Spanish-language album Ricky Martin under Sony Discos, which became a hit on the Latin charts. Followed by his second solo album Me Amaras (1993).

Martin debuted in the American TV in 1994 with the NBC sitcom Getting By. Later, he worked in other ABC’s soap opera also including General Hospital (1995), and Les Miserables, a Broadway production in 1996.

In 1995, Martin released his third album A Medio Vivir which became a turning point in his career as it sold over 3 million copies worldwide. The same year, he lends a voice in the Spanish version of the Disney animated film Hercules. His fourth album, Vuelve became number 1 hit at Billboard Top Latin Albums. 

Ricky Martin launched his first English based album, Ricky Martin in 1999 which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album was named ‘the most successful album by a Hispanic artist'. He established child advocacy organization, "Ricky Martin Foundation" in 2000 to promote children’s well-being and fight child exploitation and child trafficking.

Martin compiled his all hit Spanish-language songs on the 2001 album ‘La Historia’. After two years, he recorded a new Spanish album Almas del Silencio, which included chart-topping singles like ‘Tal Vez’, ‘Jaleo’ and ‘Y Todo Queda en Nada’. He returned to English-language pop in 2005 with album Life which proved more successful in French-speaking nations, especially France.

IN 2006, he traveled the globe with his ‘One Night Only with Ricky Martin’ tour and performed in Latin America, United States, Europe, and Africa. In between his tour, he also performed at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

He recorded his blockbuster ‘MTV Unplugged’ concert in 2006, which released on both CD and DVD formats. The album was commercially successful. After a year, Martin embarked on a worldwide ‘Black and White Tour’. He released his album ‘17’ in 2008, followed by ‘17: Greatest Hits’ in 2011 in the UK and ‘Greatest Hits: Souvenir Edition’ in 2013 in Australia.

Ricky Martin published his autobiography ‘Me’, the book was enlisted in The New York Times Bestseller list. In 2011, he released his chart-topping album ‘Musica + Alma + Sexo’ in 2011, the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums.

Martin appeared on an episode of Fox TV’s show ‘Glee’ in 2012 as a guest. His 2013 English album ‘Come with Me’ was followed by ‘Ricky Martin Live’ concert tour. The same year, he launched his first children’s book ‘Santiago the Dreamer in Land Among the Stars’.

In 2014, he started ‘Mexican One World Tour’ and ended at the opening ceremony of the 22nd Central American Caribbean Games. Martin released a song, Vente Pa' Ca in September 2016 in collaboration with Colombia singer, Maluma.

Ricky Martin's Personal Life

Ricky Martin is homosexual and he is proud of his sexuality.  In March 2010, he publicly announced his homosexuality in a post on his official website, 

"I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am."

He added, 

"These years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn't even know existed."

Ricky Martin is happily married to his longtime boyfriend, Jwan Yosef who is a Syrian Swedish painter. The duo exchanged a vow in January 2018 at a private ceremony in the presence of their closed ones. On November 16, 2016, at Ellen DeGeneres Show, the duo announced their engagement.

Previously he had an on-off relationship with Mexican TV host Rebecca de Alba for more than 14 years. Even they planned on starting a family together but later broken up. Martin is a father of twin sons,  Matteo and Valentino, born by a surrogate mother.

Martin officially announced he was in a relationship at The Ophra Winfrey Show. In 2011, during the awards acceptance ceremony at the 22nd GLAAD Media Awards, he publicly thanked his boyfriend, Carlos González Abella, an economist.  The couple broke up in 2014.

Later, he dated Jwan Yosef and engaged in 2016.

He married Jwan Yosef in January 2018. The couple welcomed their first daughter named Lucia Martin-Yosef on 31st December 2018.

Ricky Martin's Net Worth

Ricky Martin is one of the successful artists, he has an estimated net worth of $60 million. Martin earned $4 million from judging The Voice Australia. In 2016, he brought a new house at Beverly Hills of whooping cost $13.5 million.

In 2012, he sold his Miami Beach mansion for $10.6 million and n March 2017, he sold his East End Avenue’s apartment at $3.99 million.

Ricky Martin gave his first interview on TV with Oprah Winfrey show since coming out as a gay man. Let's check out the video below;