Ricardo Montaner
Encyclopedia
Ricardo Montaner is an Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

-Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

n singer and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

. Starting his career in the early 80s, he has already released more than 15 albums with numerous successful singles and has sold over 22 million record worldwide.

Early years

Montaner was born as Héctor Eduardo Reglero Montaner, in Valentín Alsina
Valentín Alsina, Buenos Aires
Valentín Alsina is a city in the Lanús Partido of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is located next to Buenos Aires city in the Gran Buenos Aires urban area....

, Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. However, he moved to Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

 when he was 6 years old. During his youth he performed in the church chorus in the city of Maracaibo
Maracaibo
Maracaibo is a city and municipality located in northwestern Venezuela off the western coast of the Lake Maracaibo. It is the second-largest city in the country after the national capital Caracas and the capital of Zulia state...

. In 1983, he released his first album titled Cada Día. Although the album was not a great success, it was a start for Montaner's career. He describes this album:"as his own version of death metal"

It wasn't until 1987 when Montaner became widely popular in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

 with the singles "Yo Que Te Amé" and "Vamos a Dejarlo" belonging to his self-titled album.

Success

The following year he came out with Ricardo Montaner 2 which featured hit songs like "Tan Enamorados" and "A Donde Va El Amor". At the same time, he acted in the popular soap opera Niña Bonita. This also became a tool to make his songs known to the rest of Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

. He won 4 platinum albums in Argentina alone. His next two albums, Un Toque de Misterio and En el Último Lugar del Mundo, became classics of the popular music in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, Central
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

 and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 with hits such as "La Cima del Cielo
La Cima del Cielo
"La Cima del Cielo" is a song performed by Argentinean-Venezuelan singer-songwriter Ricardo Montaner. It was written by Montaner and Pablo Manavello and released as the lead single from the album Un Toque de Misterio in late 1989...

", "Me Va a Extrañar", "Déjame Llorar" and "Será".

By 1992 Ricardo decided to hit the Spanish Caribbean
Spanish Caribbean
The Spanish Caribbean refers to the Spanish-speaking areas in the Caribbean Sea, namely Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. The phrase, thus, excludes countries such as Jamaica, Haiti, and the Lesser Antilles...

 with Los Hijos del Sol, an album that contained songs like "Castillo Azul", "Honda" and "Piel Adentro". That year, he also recorded a duet with Michelle, which was the Latinamerican version for the Aladdin
Aladdin
Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....

 song "A Whole New World
A Whole New World
"A Whole New World" is the Oscar winning featured pop single from the soundtrack to the 1992 Disney film Aladdin. It was composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by Tim Rice. The song is a ballad between the primary characters Aladdin and Jasmine about the new world they are going to discover together....

" titled "Un Mundo Ideal". In the same year (1992), he performed in his concert on the Madison Square Garden, with more than 16,000 people who attended the concert.

Although Montaner has written most of his songs he has worked closely with other great song writers in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

 such as Pablo Manavello, Ilan Chester
Ilan Chester
Ilan Chester is a celebrated Venezuelan singer, keyboardist, arranger and composer. Born in Israel in 1952, of European parents, Ilan emigrated to Venezuela in 1953.- Biography :...

 and Oscar Gómez
Oscar Gómez
Oscar Edegardo Gómez is a retired male light-middleweight boxer from Argentina, who represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia...

. But in 1994, Ricardo Montaner wrote and produced all the songs in his album Una Mañana y un Camino, which became popular only years after his release due to the lack of promotion by his new record label EMI Latin
EMI Latin
EMI Televisa Music, also known as EMI Latin and EMI International, is a subsidiary of EMI which focuses on Latin American music....

, with which Ricardo would also release Viene del Alma in 1995, an Italian pop flavored album. Also in 1995 he teamed up with Yolandita Monge
Yolandita Monge
Yolandita Monge is an international singer and actress from Puerto Rico and the first Puerto Rican female singer to be nominated to the Grammy Music Awards. She is also Puerto Rico's highest selling female artist. She has been in the music business since adolescence, and has recorded over thirty...

 to establish a Guinness World Record for performing 3 concerts in different cities on the same day in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

. This was only possible by air transportation via helicopter from stage to stage.

Changes in Style

By 1997, Montaner was already a well established artist in the Spanish speaking music world and could give himself the luxury of experimenting with other styles of music, without forgetting the roots that had made him so popular a decade earlier. Working one more time with Pablo Manavello and with a new record company, Warner Music proved to be the promoter Ricardo was expecting for. Es Así brought Ricardo much popularity in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Spanish speaking areas and allowed Montaner to tour more than 17 countries in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

 making him even more popular in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. Songs like "La Mujer de Mi Vida", "Para Llorar" and "Es Así" became very popular all around.

In 1999, Montaner recorded his best album ever with his past hits decorated with the strings of the London Metropolitan Orchestra
London Metropolitan Orchestra
London Metropolitan Orchestra , founded in 1994, is a London-based studio orchestra whose primary function is to record music for film, television, and other multimedia projects...

. This proved to be very successful and sold over 1 million copies. Ricardo made another attempt in 2001 with Sueño Repetido that included the bolero style song "Bésame" arranged by Bebu Silvetti
Bebu Silvetti
Juan Fernando Silvetti Adorno , professionally known as Bebu Silvetti or simply Silvetti, was an Argentine pianist, composer, conductor, arranger and record producer...

 which became a hit all over the world. Future works with Juan Carlos Calderón, Kike Santander
Kike Santander
Dr. Flavio Enrique Santander Lora, commonly known as Kike Santander, is a Colombian composer, record producer, arranger and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the principal Latino composers of the day, having worked with artists such as David Bisbal, Christian Castro, Thalía, Chayanne,...

 and Silvetti would be the key for Ricardo to move his songs and popularity to another level in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

2002's Suma (Bolero style songs) and 2003's Prohibido Olvidar (balada pop) had fair results in terms of sales and acceptance. "Si Tuviera Que Elegir" in Suma was written for his daughter. In 2003 he broke the record for the most concerts on a same tour in the theater of Bellas Artes in Puerto Rico. He sold out 18 concerts breaking his past record of 12, which also held it Yolandita Monge
Yolandita Monge
Yolandita Monge is an international singer and actress from Puerto Rico and the first Puerto Rican female singer to be nominated to the Grammy Music Awards. She is also Puerto Rico's highest selling female artist. She has been in the music business since adolescence, and has recorded over thirty...

 and Ricardo Arjona
Ricardo Arjona
Edgar Ricardo Arjona Morales, , known as Ricardo Arjona , is a Guatemalan singer...

. In 2004, he made another album with the London Metropolitan Orchestra named Con La London Metropolitan Orchestra Vol. 2 featuring his latest hits songs and two exclusive songs such as "Desesperado" and "Esta Escrito". In 2005, Montaner launched Todo y Nada which featured the songs "Cuando a mi Lado Estas" and "Nada".

For this album he's already nominated in the Latin Grammys with album and song of the year for "Cuando a mi Lado Estas". "Amarte es mi Pecado" and Heridas de Amor are non-album songs that have been chosen to be the theme songs on two very popular Mexican soap operas and that much popular have become these songs.

Recent Years

In 2007, Ricardo released Las Mejores Canciones Del Mundo produced by Adrian Posse with the songs "Hoy Tengo Ganas De Ti", "Nostalgias (Argen Version)", "Échame A Mí La Culpa (Artista Invitado: Juanes
Juanes
Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez , better known as Juanes is a Colombian musician who was a member of heavy metal band Ekhymosis and is now a solo artist. In 2000, his solo debut album Fíjate Bien won three Latin Grammy Awards.Juanes has sold more than 13 million albums...

)".

In 2008, he released Las Mejores Canciones Del Mundo II - Y Algunas Mías...! with the songs "Cuando Un Amigo Se Va", "Ansiedad", "Bésame (Featuring Pasión Vega)".

Ricardo Montaner has sold over 22 million albums, and keeps breaking records in arenas and theaters all over the world. The last one was in another concert that he did in Mar del Plata, Argentina; there were 220,000 people that attended the concert that night.

Personal life

Ricardo is married to Marlene Rodriguez Miranda and has three children with her and two sons from a previous marriage. His sons Héctor and Alejandro Montaner are also singers. He lives with his family in Miami Beach, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

.

Discography

  • Cada Día (1983)
  • Ricardo Montaner (1987)
  • Ricardo Montaner, Vol.2 (1988)
  • Un Toque de Misterio (1990)
  • En el Ultimo Lugar de Mundo (1991)
  • Los Hijos del Sol (1992)
  • Una Mañana y un Camino (1994)
  • Viene del Alma (1995)
  • Es Asi (1997)
  • Con la London Metropolitan Orchestra (1999)
  • Sueño Repetido (2001)
  • Suma (2002)
  • Prohibido Olvidar (2003)
  • Con la London Metropolitan Orchesta (2004)
  • Todo y Nada (2005)
  • Las Mejores Canciones del Mundo (2007)
  • Las Mejores Canciones, Vol. 2 (2007)
  • Las Cosas Son Como Son (2009)
  • Soy Feliz (2010)

External links

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