Ricardo Arjona Biography

Ricardo Arjona Morales (Jocotenango, Guatemala, January 19, 1964).

Known by his stage name Ricardo Arjona, he is an Artist, Actor, Composer, Musician and Singer of Guatemalan origin, recognized for his musical versatility, in addition to his prolific and wide range of social themes that encompass his songs, which play topical aims such as abortion, prostitution, religion or immigration, among others.

His recording work has earned him numerous accolades, highlighting a Latin Grammy (2006); a Grammy Award (2007) and two Silver Seagulls from the 2010 Viña del Mar International Song Festival.

Likewise, this Central American singer has become a true musical phenomenon, selling more than thirteen billion albums, becoming one of the most successful Spanish-speaking artists.

Early life

Ricardo Arjona was born on January 19, 1964 in Josotenango, Guatemala, becoming the third child of the marriage between schoolteacher Ricardo Arjona Moscoso and his wife Mimi Morales de Arjona. When he turned three, the family decided to move to Guatemala City, where he spent most of his childhood and adolescence.

At the age of seven, his father gave him his first guitar, which he learned to play quickly, being already a good performer at the age of eight. At the age of twelve he began writing his first songs. The first of these was “That’s my boat”, with which she won the Youth 74 Children’s Festival.

Musical beginnings

He began his university studies with the architecture career, which he abandoned to begin engineering, which he would later leave.

During these years, he worked as a teacher at St. Helena III Elementary School. In 1985, his girlfriend decided to organize a date with the Guatemalan floppy school. From the encounter came the recording of his first album Let me say that I love you. However, the production didn´t become successful or rewarding for Arjona, who decided that the singing career was not for him, desisting from it and dedicating himself for the next five years to playing basketball and to resume his studies.

In this way, he participated in the lions of Mars and TRIAS basketball teams, also becoming part of the national basketball team of Guatemala, where he set the record of seventy-eight points scored in a single game, which could only be surpassed more than fifteen years After. He also graduated from the School of Communication Sciences of the University of San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC).

In 1988, he decided to insist on his musical career, following which he departs for Argentina, in order to participate in the Oti Festival, after which he decides to stay in this southern country, where he settles in the capital of Buenos Aires, a city where he keeps playing in locals and in l to famous Florida tourist street.

Arrival of success

The following year he returned to his country for a short time before leaving for Mexico, where after some encounters and encounters with some producers, Arjona gets a role in the novel Reaching a Star, of which he receives good reviews, despite having lied about his experience as an actor.

Likewise the song of this dramatic, The Woman I Did Not Dream, performed by Eduardo Capetillo is by Arjona’s authorship, although he didn´t gain any retribution for the piece.

After some difficulties in recording his next two albums “Jesús, verbo no no unsubstantive” (1988) and “On the other side of the sun” (1991), and being already a medium-known musician in Latin America, Arjona managed to sign with Sony Music to produce his fourth album Night animal (1993) which however received no promotion, until it was discovered by the Aloysio Reis, the new artistic director of this film, who brings it to light, making it a great international success, then starting a musical career on a permanent rise.

Sentimental Life

As for her sentimental life, in 1988, while living in Buenos Aires, she met Leslie Torres, a Puerto Rican woman with whom she begins a romantic relationship, which goes beyond the distances and extends until 1992, when they married in Las Vegas. Months later they have their first daughter, Adria Arjona.

Two years later they bring their second son, Ricardo Arjona, into the world. However, in 2002 the couple decided to separate, entering into custody litigation for their children, where Leslie publicly accuses this singer-songwriter of domestic violence. Divorce finally materializes in 2005. A lustro later, he meets the Venezuelan model Daisy Arvelo, with whom he begins a new romantic relationship, from which his third son, Nicholas, was born.

Top albums

His record productions are composed of fourteen studio albums: Let me say I love you (1985); Jesus, non-substantive verb (1988); On the other side of the sun (1991); Night Animal (1993); Stories (1994); If the north were the south (1996); No damage to third parties (1998); Caribbean Gallery (2000); Holy Sin (2002); Inside (2005); 5th Floor (2008); Little clothes (2010); Independent (2011); Travel (2014). It also has two live albums: Vivo (1999); Metamorphosis: Live (2013)…

As well as his sixteen compilation albums, his five promotional singles and the forty-five recorded singles, as well as his numerous concerts. Career that has earned him numerous awards and recognitions, and that he carries in parallel with his altruistic work through his Fundación Adentro, with which the mission of building a school in the poorest areas of Guatemala has been drawn.

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