What To Know About Ricky Martin, His Husband and Kids
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As a serial hitter who began his music career at the age of 12, Martin is credited with a number of hits, the most popular of which is Livin’ La Vida Loca, Nobody Wants to Be Lonely and She’s All I Ever Had, which climbed to number 2 on the Billboard charts on September 2, 1999. With over 85 million albums sold, it is really pointless to point out how big the Martin brand is worldwide, as Latin American is known to have a broad fan base consisting of Spanish and non-Spanish people.

Ricky Martin is not only a very talented musician but also a quite successful writer and actor who has appeared in several TV shows like The Love Boat, Barefoot in Paradise, and General Hospital.

For all his contributions to the entertainment world, Ricky Martin can boast of having received 189 awards. He still sings entertaining and best-selling songs in Spanish and English.

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How He Became A Star

Enrique Martin Morales, popularly known by his stage name Ricky Martin, was born on December 24, 1971, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the son of Nereida Morales (mother) and Enrique Martín Negroni (father), who divorced a few months after his second birthday.

He was raised mainly by his father and his maternal grandmother. He is American by nationality but comes from a long line of Spanish, Basque, and Canadian descent. Martin first developed a serious interest in music at the age of 6 and soon began writing songs and performing at family gatherings.

His father noticed how talented Martin had become and signed him up for an audition for a TV commercial, which paved the way for the young Martin to make several TV commercials for toothpaste, food, and soft drink brands.

He started his music career professionally in 1984 when he joined an all-boy band Menudo after Ricky Melendez left. He auditioned with Menudo three times before joining the group in 1984. Later that year he made his debut recording the song Rayo De Lunaz from their 16th studio album Evolution. He then recorded 11 albums with the group before finally deciding to record a solo album in July 1989 after 5 years with the group.

Determined to take his music career to a whole new level, Martin released his first solo studio album in 1991, entitled Ricky Martin, under the name Sony Discos. Two years later he released his second studio album, produced by the legendary Juan Carlos Calderón, entitled Me Amaras.

The music artist was relatively successful on this path, as he released several solo albums in Spanish in the 1990s.

His major breakthrough, however, came in 1998 with the release of his fourth studio album, Vuelve, which attracted FIFA’s attention and led Ricky to write a song entitled La Copa de la Vida for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, which he finally performed at the World Cup Final at the Stade de France on 12 July 1998.

In addition to this major milestone, Vuelve Martin also helped Martin win his first Grammy award at the 41st Grammy Awards (1999) for Best Latin Album. He was also allowed to perform one of his hit songs “The Cup of Life” at the Grammys show, a performance that further made him a worldwide star. He was credited with bringing Latin pop to the top of the US music scene, and the rest of the world wanted to know more about him and his songs.

Soon he released “Livin’ La Vida Loca”, which started the Latin pop explosion of 1999 and helped other Spanish-speaking artists make the transition to the English-speaking global market.

Awards and Recognition

In the course of his career, Martin has achieved great success in both Latin American and English music circles. In 1999 the star won his first Grammy Award for the best Latin album. In 2016 he added another Grammy Award to his collection, this time for Best Latin Pop Album for his tenth studio album, Quien Quiera Escuchar.

He has also won awards such as the Latin Grammy Awards, 5 MTV Video Music Awards, American Music Awards, World Music Awards, and MTV Video Awards. Thanks to his TV expertise he has also been nominated for the Emmy Awards.

What We Know About His Current Partner

His first known homosexual relationship was with Carlos González Abella, whom he mentioned in his acceptance speech at the 22nd GLAAD Media Awards 2011. The relationship went well until they stopped in January 2014 without telling the public their reasons.

The Latin singer is currently married to the Syrian-Swedish painter Jwan Yosef, to whom he was engaged in November 2016. The two entered into a life-long bond in January 2018 after having been together for almost two years.

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How Ricky Martin Came Out of The Closet

March 29, 2010, would always be remembered as the day Ricky Martin shocked the whole world in his will by declaring on his official website that “he is a happy homosexual man”. In his opinion, his decision to make his sexuality public was made while writing his autobiography, which made him realize how important it is to tell the whole world his truth, regardless of what others think. He went on to say that he had grown stronger over the years and could weather any storm that might follow his coming out.

Prior to the big revelation, Martin was reportedly in an unstable relationship that lasted 14 years with Mexican TV host Rebecca de Alba. During this time they had talked about starting a family, but it never really happened. Martin had also considered surprising her with a proposal of marriage. But the matter never came to a conclusion.

Does He Have Children?

They are parents of 4 children, all born through a surrogate mother. They are the twin boys Valentino and Matteo, who in 2008 only Ricky Martin was born through a surrogate mother. Their third child Lucía Martin-Yosef (the first fruit of their union) was born on December 31st, 2018, while their fourth child, Renn Martin Yosef, was born on October 29th, 2019. It is not known if the duo would extend his family, but during a speech he gave at the National Dinner of the Human Rights Campaign in 2019, Martin revealed that he and his partner love a large family. So there is a chance that the couple would have more children.