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Miguel Ríos | |
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.jpg) Miguel Ríos, 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Miguel Ríos Campaña |
| Also known as | Mike Ríos |
| Born | (1944-06-07)7 June 1944 (age 80) Granada, Spain |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer,composer |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Years active | 1961–present |
| Labels | A&M Records |
Miguel Ríos Campaña (born 7 June 1944)[1] is a Spanish singer and composer. He is one of the pioneers ofrock and roll in Spain.
Ríos was born inLa Cartuja, a neighborhood ofGranada. The youngest of seven children, he went to work in a local bar at the age of fifteen after little formal education. His interest in rock and roll led him to participate in a song contest at Cenicienta 60radio station, in which he and his friends won a prize for singing thePaul Ankasong "You Are My Destiny".
With his mother's permission (his father had died a few months earlier), he moved toMadrid in 1961 at the age of sixteen, where herecorded his first foursongs. In popular circles he became known asMike Ríos, the King of Twist.
As Mike Ríos he obtained sometelevision popularity during the first half of the 1960s. In 1964 he resumed using his real name which cost him the support of his group, Los Relámpagos (the Lightning). He made his first incursion intocinema with amovie titledDos chicas locas, locas (Two Crazy Girls).
An introspective search for his true identity resulted in some rocky times. In 1967 he recorded"Vuelvo a Granada","El río", "Contra el cristal", "El cartel", and "Mira hacia ti". It was in 1970 that he came to be known as asuperstar in Spain. His song "Himno de la alegría" (Hymn of Joy) was an extract of the last movement of theninth symphony ofBeethoven and appeared at the height of what was known assymphonic rock. It was released in both North America and theUnited Kingdom as "A Song of Joy" in May 1970 on theA&M Recordslabel, where combined sales in the U.S. andCanada reached the one million mark in July.[1][2] It reached No. 16 in the UK singles charts in August 1970. It was awarded agold record by theRecording Industry Association of America.[1] The song peaked at number 1 in Australia[3] and Canada.[4]
Ríos sold three million copies worldwide and was number one on some foreign musiccharts. It reached Number 14 on theBillboard Hot 100 chart in 1970.
His next single,Like An Eagle, reached number 72 in Canada and number 29 in Australia.[5]
The artistic career of Rios came to a sudden stop when, in 1972, he was arrested and jailed for smoking ofmarijuana shortly after hisRock y Amor (Rock and Love)concert.[6][7] In the mid seventies he recorded threeprogressive rock albums, but they were not commercially successful.
In 1980, one of his most successful songs, "Santa Lucía", a ballad by ArgentinianRoque Narvaja, appeared in hisRocanrol bumerang album.[8]
In 1982, Rios releasedRock and Rios alivedouble album recorded during the 5 and 6 March in Madrid at the Pabellón del Real Madrid and published in June of the same year. This album is considered by manymusic critics andfans as one of the most important works of modern Spanish (Iberian)rock and a turning point for themusic industry in Spain. Rios sold over 450,000 copies in less than one year, a feat he never again came close to surpassing. Ironically this concert was a celebration of his 20 years in the music business, yet most of the audience members had not even been born when he began his career. One of the unique aspects of this album was its release. While most live albums at the time were released after atour was over, Rios released his at the same time as he started his tour. The success of both made him one of the wealthiest entertainers of the era.Rock and Rios is also considered a cultural marker for the transformation of Spanish society, as it slowly begun to enjoy the freedoms of a democracy born only six years earlier. It is also thought of as the precursor to Spain's "La Gran Movida" (literal translation: The Great Movement or The Great Flow - conceptual translation: The Great Vibe) orLa Movida Madrileña, which is a term that loosely defines the street youth culture of the 1980s in Spain.
In 1983, Miguel Ríos published his tenth studio album,The rock of a summer night, with which he made his biggest tour, accompanied by artists such asLuz Casal andLeño as opening acts. . Ríos fills 32 soccer fields and bullrings throughout Spain, with an attendance of more than 700,000 spectators.
A year later he published the albumLa encrucijada and in 1985,Rock en el ruedo, a compilation with his greatest hits to date and which included an unreleased song. The new tour was a commercial failure and we had to wait until 1986 to be able to listen to a new album by the Granada singer,The Year of the Comet.
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