In fact, Martin dreamed of breaking out of the group's constraints and setting off on his own. Producer-performer Robi Rosa recalls talking to Martin about his ambitions when they were both in Menudo: "Mainly our conversations were about life and being true and making it and doing something great."
After finally leaving the group at age 17, Martin embarked on a commercially successful Spanish-language solo career. He was signed by Sony, which early on saw a future in Latin pop (Anthony, Lopez and Shakira are all on various Sony labels). Says Sony Music chief executive Tommy Mottola: "The heart and soul of the music will be able to break down barriers easily. It's undeniable."
Sony had that faith confirmed well before the current bout of Ricky-mania. Back in December 1997, the label's deputy marketing chief for Asia, Andrew Yavasis, received an e-mail pitch from his Latin America counterpart about Martin. "I said to myself, 'God, does this guy even sing in English? Why does he want to come to Asia?'" But, says Yavasis, the singer insisted that he felt "spiritually connected to Asia." (Martin now closes every concert by clasping his hands in a namaste.) Martin's having been chosen to sing the 1998 World Cup anthem, La Copa de la Vida, gave Yavasis some hope: Sony went ahead and repackaged Vuelve with the Spanglish version of Copa and Martin's hit, Maria. MTV was happy to play along. "We identified him as a product who might have a great marketplace here in Asia," says MTV's Asia programming director Mishal Varma.
THE RESPONSE TOOK EVEN MARTIN FANS BY SURPRISE. "I'd be lying if I didn't say that the man surpassed anything we had anticipated," concedes Vijay Singh, chief executive of Sony India. In New Delhi his posters are sold on street corners with those of Indian gods and goddesses--both film and mythological--and his music is even edging out bhangra pop at weddings. In Japan, Martin's songs have tapped into a craze for things Latin . When the singer agreed, against Yavasis' advice, to perform at a fashion industry trade show last September in the Chinese city of Dalian, more than 50,000 people turned up in the local Workers Stadium.
Of course, Martin's popularity in places like Seoul and Jakarta derives in part from his dominance of the U.S. charts--the traditional source of cool for Asian teens. And the American market wasn't easy to crack. But his pelvic-swiveling rendition of Copa at the Grammy awards earlier this year proved a breakthrough. Martin had done the impossible: he had sung about soccer in Spanish and made Americans care. It's hard to imagine anything more far-fetched A French-language ode to cricket? At the Grammys, Beck stood and clapped. Madonna signed on for a duet. Martin's U.S. career was launched. Several publishers, including HarperCollins and St. Martin's, are already rushing out books on him.
"A lot of people say, 'Well, why English, why do you want to do it in the States?" says Martin. "It's all about communicating. The last album [Vuelve] did really good, to be quite honest--I want to be humble about this--all over the world. One of the songs was No. 1 in 22 countries. And it was in Spanish. So I didn't have to go to English to make it."
But his timing--and we're trying to be humble about this too--was perfect. Record labels, eager for a hot new sound, have started to court Latin pop stars. The death of Tejano idol Selena in 1995 and the boom in her music that followed got many label suits thinking: If Selena can sell millions of CDs posthumously, how much money could we make with a Latin pop star who can still tour? Says Maria Zenoz, chief executive of Caliente Entertainment, a record company in New York City: "The untimely death of Selena caused the mainstream labels to take a look."
It's perhaps appropriate that the Latin female singer who is best positioned to grab hold of a Selena-proportioned success is the woman who portrayed her on film. Gregory Nava, director of the 1997 biopic Selena, cast Jennifer Lopez in the lead. The finished film used Selena's real voice for the musical sequences, but, Nava says, Lopez would sing through her scenes during the filming. The experience inspired Lopez to launch a singing career. "I did a demo in Spanish after Selena and submitted it to the Work label," says Lopez. "They said, 'We like it, but we want you to do it in English.'" So she did. If You Had My Love, the first single from her debut, On the 6, stood atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart last week.
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THIS WEEK'S TABLE OF CONTENTS
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June 28, 1999
Latin Music POPS!
We've seen the future. It looks like Ricky Martin, sings like Marc Anthony, dances like Jennifer Lopez. And Asians love it
Godfather of the Miami Sound
When Emilio Estefan makes a prediction, industry moguls listen
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Photo Essay
El Mundo Loves Ricky
Get Ready for Ricky
Latin pop's hot new star has gone from Menudo to mainstream, with a stop at a soap. What's not to like? (TIME, May 10, 1999)
Spicing The Mix
Latin pop prepares to take on America (TIME, March 15, 1999)
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