Product Description
With two multi-platinum solo-albums, sold-out concerts and success in live theatre, television and film, Ricky Martin is today's hottest Latin pop sensation! Now, with the publication of
Ricky Martin: A Scrapbook in Words and Pictures adoring fans will get an inside look at this talented performer's rise to international pop fame. Includes over thirty full-color photos!
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
In 1994 Ricky Martin joined the cast of ABC's
General Hospital. With all his acting experience, he had no qualms about accepting a role on the legendary soap. This was a decisive step in his already successful career and the opportunity to present himself to a North American audience. He quickly caught the attention of the news media, which acclaimed his participation in the famous series. He played Miguel, a former pop star from Puerto Rico who fled the heartbreak of lost love and landed in Port Charles as a bartender with a mysterious past.
Naturally, the character Miguel returned to singing professionally, which gave ABC the opportunity to showcase Ricky Martin in various episodes. Most moving scene: Miguel's ballad in tribute to his friend Stone during a hospital AIDS benefit.
When asked today whether he thinks people still associate him with Menudo or with
General Hospital, and whether those career endeavors held him back in some way, Ricky answers, "When I left the group, I took a whole year off just to spend some time with myself. When I came back to the 'spotlight' I had a completely different image. In Latin America, they don't remember me as being with Menudo. I was a little kid in Menudo, I had long hair and it was a different point of view; sometimes I have to remind people where I come from. I don't mind when they ask me about the soap, I think the soap fed the music career, and the music fed the acting, like a circular process."
After dedicating two years of his career to acting, Ricky returned to his first love, music. Yes, he decided to pursue acting after he left Menudo, but since all his roles seemed to have something to do with singing and his two solo albums were doing so well, he finally realized that he was meant for music. Sony released his third album,
A Medio Vivir (It Means to Live), in 1995.
