Luis Miguel

Known as "El Sol de México," Luis Miguel was a towering figure in Latin pop with a career that stretched from his pre-teen debut in the early '80s. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Mexico, he was groomed as a child star by his father, singer Luis Rey, who urged him to watch videos of Elvis Presley and learn the moves. He scored his first hit single "1+1=Dos Enamorados" at age eleven, and at 14 he joined Sheena Easton for "Me Gustas Tal Como Eres," the first of many romantic duets he'd record. (It also won him the first of many Grammys, for Best Mexican-American Performance.) His seventh album, 20 Anos (1990) effectively launched his adult career and the next year's followup Romance did even better, a worldwide hit that ultimately sold 15 million copies. The album found Miguel covering classic boleros from a few decades earlier, and earned him credit for re-popularizing the bolero style. There would be three sequels, including Mis Romances in 2001. The '90s found Miguel furthering his international superstardom, getting a seal of approval from Frank Sinatra who requested his presence on Duets II, his final studio album. In 1997 he recorded "Sueña," the hit theme of Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". While he recorded a wide variety of pop material-including a Spanish cover of Michael Jackson's "Blame It on the Boogie"-- he also began recording mariachi with the 2004 album Mexico En La Piel, helping to revive that style as he'd done with bolero. Unlike the majority of Latin superstars Miguel chose not to record in English, explaining that he felt proud to be a speaker of Spanish. 2014-15 brought the "Déjà vu Tour," a career retrospective with a newly-recorded title song. Miguel racked up some of the highest-grossing tours even given by a Latin artist, including 2003's "33 Tour," based on his age at the time, which sold out Mexico's National Auditorium for 25 straight nights; during this tour Prince Felipe of Spain honored him as the bestselling foreign artist in Spanish history. His 2011 tour of North America was one of the most profitable tours that year. Miguel's popularity was so extensive that Saddam Hussein was said to have owned one of his albums when he was captured. While Miguel preferred to keep his personal life private, he was linked romantically with Mariah Carey, MTV host Daisy Fuentes and Mexican actress/model Aracely Arámbula. During 2015 Miguel experienced health problems, walking offstage in Mexico City when an infection affected his hearing. In November 2016 it was announced that MGM's joint venture Gato Grande Productions would be developing a TV series based on his life.