Latin Pop

Contributed anonymously:

Thanks to 1999 and the Latin Pop explosion a lot of good musicians came into view for the American public, mainly four in particular who were pushed to the forefront, Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, and Jennifer Lopez.

Shakira – (Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll) – 28
Born in Colombia, she wrote her first song at age 8, at 13 she signed with Sony Music Colombia (after leaving to pursue modeling). She released an album in 91’ and another then again in 93’ (Magia, and Peligro) both were poorly received. She acted for alittle while on Colombian soap opera “El Oasis”, and then released her third album that gave her the big break she was looking for. She’s sold over 7 million albums in the US alone, has had two top five hits, one top ten, and one top 40 just from her only English cd “Laundry Service, and has won 1 Grammy, 2 World Music Awards, 2 Much Music awards, 1 Latin Grammy, and 5 Mtv VMA Latin awards. She’s ranked as #33 of the Sexiest Artists. She will be releasing two albums this year a Spanish one in June, and an English one later this year.

Enrique Iglesias – 29 years old
Born in Spain and raised in Miami, Enrique released his first album, which went on to sell over 5 million copies, in 1995, the album topped Billboard’s Top 50 Latin Albums for 11 weeks, and singles from that album topped the Hot Latin Tracks chart for 25 weeks. His second album did even better topping the Top 50 Latin Albums chart for 15 weeks, and singles from that album topped the Hot Latin Tracks chart for 26 weeks. In 98’ He was nominated for his first American Music Award and lost to his father. His third album topped the charts for eight 8 weeks with its singles topping for 5 weeks, His fourth topped for 10 weeks while it only had one single that topped the chart for one week, His fifth had the hit single Bailamos which was #1 for one week, in the same month he released his fifth album he released a greatest hits album which topped the chart for 4 weeks, Enrique has sold well over 13 million albums. He’s won Vh1/Vogue’s Most fashionable male award, 2 Latin Billboard Awards, 1 Billboard Award, 3 American Music Awards, I Blockbuster award, and 2 World Music Awards. Vh1 named him #44 Sexiest, and #78 of the 100 Top Pop Artists of the last 25 years. He’s had 2 #1’s, 4 Top 10 hits (Including his duet with Whitney Houston “Could I Have This Kiss Forever” which made it to #5), 2 Top 20 hits, and 2 Top 40 hits (Including his duet with Kelis “Not In Love” which made it to #27).

Ricky Martin – (Enrique Martin Morales) – 33
Rick went from appearing in commercials as a kid to singing lead with Menudo, to stage acting, to soap opera acting, before finally becoming known as a Latin sex symbol. Ricky, who was named one of People’s 50 most beautiful people in 2000, has sold over 25 million albums (being the first Latin artist in history to have an album sell over 5 million copies). He’s won many awards including 1 Grammy, 2 American Music Awards, 2 Mtv Vma’s, a Teen Choice Award, 4 Latin Billboard Awards, an Mtv Europe Music Award, a Radio Music Award, 3 World Music Awards, 2 Blockbuster Music Awards, and 1 My Vh1 award, for best booty shake. He’s had 2 #1 hits (including his duet with Christina Aguilera, “Nobody Wants to be Lonely”), 3 Top 10 hits, and 6 Top 40 hits. He’s ranked #42 of the Sexiest Artists, and his video for “Livin’ La Vida Loca” is ranked #85 of the 100 Greatest. In 2001 he joined forces with other Latin artists to record “El Ultimo Adios” (The Last Goodbye), with proceeds benefiting the families of the victims of September 11th.

Jennifer Lopez – 34
Jennifer, who got her start on television has appeared on 2 series (In Living Color, and South Central), fourteen movies (including Maid In Manhattan which was her biggest opening film to date, taking in 19 million in it’s first weekend, and topping the box-office for two weeks straight), she’s released 5 albums, giving her sales well over 11 million copies sold, and has 2 fashion lines, J.Lo, and Sweetface (which is her high-end line). She’s had 7 #1’s, 4 Top 10 hits, 2 Top 20 hits, and 1 Top 40 Hit. (Her single with now hubby Marc Anthony, “No Me Ames” topped the Latin charts for 7 solid weeks and was nominated for a Grammy. She’s won one Radio Music Award, 3 Teen Choice Awards, 2 Mtv Europe Awards, 1 World Music Award, 1 Kid’s Choice Award, 1 American Music Award, and 2 Vh1/ Vogue fashion Awards (the Versace Award, and the Most Influential award. She’s #3 on Vh1 Sexiest Artists list, and #27 on the Top Pop Artists of the last 25 years list. “If you had my love” was her first Top 40 hit, and it was platinum within a month. “Love don’t cost a thing” topped the Mtv countdown for 8 weeks straight. Jennifer is the first person to have a both a movie and an LP debut at number 1 in the same week. She to joined forces with her fellow Latin artists in 2001 on “El Ultimo Adios”, and Jen was also apart o another tribute song “What’s Going On”. Her new album “Rebirth” dropped a few weeks ago and has currently sold 750,000 copies.