Thalía
Template:Infobox musical artist 2
Thalía (born Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda, August 26, 1971 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico) is a Mexican actress, singer, record producer, composer and businesswoman. She is considered one of the most important and representative singers of Latin pop. Her voice is considered a mezzo-soprano. She has sold over 15 million albums worldwide.
Biography
In 1981, Thalía began her career as a child with the national group Din Din and performed in the music festival Juguemos a Cantar, first as a member of the group and then as a soloist. In 1984 she was cast in the teenage version of the stage production Grease, ending up with the lead as Sandy. She later replaced one of the female vocalists, Sasha Sokol of Timbiriche in 1986 (Most popular mexican pop group), making the band's fame skyrocket. That same year she was cast in her first soap opera Pobre Señorita Limantour. A year later, she starred in the Mexican telenovela Quinceañera after which she went to Los Angeles, California to prepare herself to pursue a solo career.
In 1990, she released her first album Thalía earning a gold record the following year. "Un Pacto Entre Los Dos" was her first single. In 1991, she traveled to Spain and starred in different television programs and also released her second album Mundo De Cristal, which also went gold. By 1992 her third album Love went platinum. This year was also the beginning of a successful acting career in México. She starred in Televisa's telenovela María Mercedes, following a series of others like Marimar, María La Del Barrio and later on Rosalinda. These became a huge success, not only in Mexico, but also in countries like USA, Indonesia, Spain, Portugal, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Peru, Senegal, China, Greece, Cyprus, The Philippines, Brazil and have been sold in over 180 countries. Her telenovelas are simple stories and all are based on adaptations to the well-known Cinderella story, the main character is born in poverty and then meets a wealthy young man and later they get married.
All of this began to change in 1995 when she moved from Fonovisa to EMI Latin and released her label debut, En Éxtasis, which featured her first major international hit, "Piel Morena".
In 1997 Atlantic Records released the soundtrack for the animated feature film Anastasia, which included as a bonus track the Spanish version of "Journey to the Past", performed by Thalía. Also in that year, she traveled to the Philippines and had a major concert at the Araneta Coliseum and filled almost 15,000 thousand capacity. Thalía released her only Philippine album entitled Nandito Ako, her also carrier single. She also did the Tagalog version of Wilfrido Vargas' popular merengue song called "El Venao" whose title in Tagalog was "Chika Lang". She recorded that particular album mostly in Tagalog and English language. Latin pop impresario Emilio Estefan, Jr. produced her next album, Amor a la Mexicana, and it too met international success and was a much stronger album, her first great one, which featured hits such as "Amor A La Mexicana", "Por Amor" or "Mujer Latina".
From 2006, the 21st of April has been declared "Day of Thalía" in Los Angeles. She has a broad fan base around the world and has allegedly accessed people's houses in over one hundred and eighty countries, thanks to her famous "telenovelas". Her face is familiar among millions, and has been named one of the "25 most beautiful people" by reputable magazine People en Español many times.
She has been a guest on television programs like Hard Copy, Entertainment Tonight, El Show de Cristina and The Rosie O'Donnell Show. She also starred in Mambo Café, a modest Hollywood production in which she played a young Puerto Rican girl alongside Danny Aiello and Rosanna de Soto with Paul Rodriguez as her father.
On December 2, 2000, Thalía married the former Sony Music president, Tommy Mottola (ex-husband of the American superstar singer Mariah Carey) who is 23 years her senior, at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, in a three-million dollar ceremony and reception. They currently live in New York City. Emilio Estefan produced her follow-up, Arrasando, and it was so successful. Thalía was nominated in two Latin Grammy categories - "Best Female Pop Artist of the Year" and "Best Sound Engineered album", and she won the last one. The singles of this album ("Arrasando / It's My Party", "Entre El Mar Y Una Estrella", "Regresa a Mí" and "Reencarnación") were greats hits too.
On August 28, 2001, she released her album Con Banda, Grandes Éxitos. A "greatest hits" album, but recorded with the typical Mexican "banda" sound.
Two years later, Thalía's next album, Thalía, was largely written and produced by Estéfano, the hitmaker who had taken Paulina Rubio's career to megastar heights two years earlier with Paulina. Buoyed by a pair of chart-topping singles ("No Me Enseñaste" and "Tú y Yo") and a top-ten hit ("¿A Quién Le Importa?") this album hit number one for 6 consecutive weeks on the Top Latin Albums chart, reaching number 22 on the overall Billboard 200 chart, which itself was a supreme feat for a Spanish-language artist. It was nominated in one Latin Grammy category - "Female Pop Vocal Album", and in four Latin Billboard categories - "Pop Track Female" (No Me Enseñaste), "Tropical Track Female" (No Me Enseñaste), "Premio de la Audiencia" and "Pop Female Album". She won the last two awards. "No Me Enseñaste" is probably her best hit to date, receiving many Latin Billboard nominees, many other awards, as well as, chart-topping success. It was #1 in Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks. It also topped Latin airplays and was #1.
In 2003 Thalía released her first self-titled English language album Thalía, featuring the rapper Fat Joe in "I Want You/Me Pones Sexy". Baby, I'm In Love/Alguien Real and Don't Look Back were singles too. Even though it wasn't the crossover everybody hoped it would be, it sold over 150,000 within the first weeks in the United States and introduced her to the music market of Japan, where she sold more than 200,000 copies and became a huge celebrity. She also released a successful clothing line, exclusively available in Kmart, under the name Thalía Sodi Collection. With huge success, her clothing line went from 300 Kmart stores to 1,500. She won an International Dance Music Award for her club-hit "Dance Dance (The Mexican)".
In 2004, Thalía later signed a contract with the chocolate company, Hershey's. She appears in the company's Spanish-language advertisements and sells her own branch of Hershey's products called La Dulcería Thalía (The Thalía Candy Shop). She released her Greatest Hits, and "Cerca De Ti" and "Acción y Reacción" were the singles from this album. In April and May, she toured USA and Mexico with her "High Voltage Tour".
Her album El Sexto Sentido was released July 19, 2005 and was recorded mostly in the Spanish, but with a few of the cuts sung in English as well. It was the most expensive CD produced in Latin America in 2005. It has mild success so far, mostly because of lack of enough promotion. Though the sound and the overall result is one of her most integrated projects. "Amar Sin Ser Amada" (and its English version "You Know He Never Loved You") was the first single of the album (featuring Héctor "El Bambino" only in the Reggaeton version). It is an infectious rock-edged tango-based song. "Un Alma Sentenciada", the second single, is a feverish and, at points, hyperdramatic ballad. The explosive "Seducción" ("Seduction") was the third single. El Sexto Sentido sold nearly 85,000 copies during the first week in Mexico.
In the summer of 2005, Thalía's multi-million dollar contract with Televisa was cancelled, due to her not wanting to star in a soap opera or a show with the company. After several notices the head of Televisa Emilio Azcárraga Jean, decided to cancel her contract after several attempts to make her go back into telenovelas. The contract was made for three telenovelas and only one was made, Rosalinda (1999). Thalía was paid $75,000 U.S dollars a month for the contract.
On 2006, Thalía was the 'godmother' of "Cantando Por Un Sueño", a Mexican TV reality show. It was rumored she got paid 1 million dollars to perform. Once again she proved to be the favorite and "Cantando Por Un Sueño" was viewed by 45% of all the Mexican Audience during the entire day. Thalía recorded the title song of the show, and it was included in El Sexto Sentido Re+Loaded (a rereleased version of Thalia's current album). It was released in Mexico on February 13, 2006 (U.S. June 6, Spain May 29) and features four new songs, including a duet with the group Aventura "No, No, No". This is Thalía's new single in USA, while the ballad "Olvídame" is the fourth single in the rest of the world. El Sexto Sentido was nominated in one Latin Billboard category - "Pop Female Album".
This year, Thalía officially became a U.S. citizen at a swearing-in ceremony in New York, where she resides with her husband. Under Mexican law she is allowed to retain her Mexican citizenship.
Thalía then plans to release her twelfth album in which she will completely modify her looks into a more rebellious, juvenile "Thalia" in order to attract the young American public. The album will be sung completely in English and will be released around August of this year.
Filmography
Soap Operas
- Pobre Señorita Limantour (1987)
- Quinceañera (1988)
- Luz y sombra (1989)
- María Mercedes (1992)
- Marimar (1994)
- Maria la del barrio (1995)
- Rosalinda (1999)
Films
- Mambo Café (1999)
Discography
Albums and their singles
| Album | Information |
|---|---|
| File:Thalia 1 CD.jpg | Thalía
WW Sales: 250.000 |
| File:Thalia MDC CD.jpg | Mundo de Cristal
WW Sales: 300.000 |
| File:Thalia Love CD.jpg | Love
WW Sales: 400.000 |
| File:Thalia ENX CD.jpg | En Extasis
WW Sales: 1.300.000 |
| File:Thalia NA CD.jpg | Nandito Ako
Philippine Release Only: 200.000 |
| File:Thalia AMEX CD.jpg | Amor a la Mexicana
WW Sales: 1.400.000 |
| File:Thalia Arrasando CD.jpg | Arrasando
WW Sales: 1.670.000 |
| File:Thalia Banda con existos CD.jpg | Con Banda, Grandes Éxitos
WW Sales: 650.000 |
| File:Thalia Thalia CD.jpg | Thalía
WW Sales: 3.300.000 |
| File:CDHitsRemixed Thalia.jpg | Hits Remixed
WW Sales: 600.000+ |
| File:Thalia EN CD.jpg | Thalía (English)
WW Sales: 3.100.000 |
| File:Thalia GH CD.jpg | Greatest Hits
WW Sales: 450.000 |
| File:Thalia 6S CD.jpg | El Sexto Sentido
WW Sales: 800.000 |
Total WW:Sales: More Than 15 Million copies
Compilations and other releases
- Grandes Exitos (1994)
- 20 Kiliates Musicales (1996)
- Anastasia Soundtrack (1997) 300.000 copies
- Jugo de Exitos (1998)
- Mis Mejores Momentos Para Coleccionistas (1998)
- Serie Milennium 21 (1999)
- La Sensacion de Thalia Serie Sensacional (2000)
- Serie 32" (2001)
- Escenciales: The Ultimate Collection (2002)
- EdicionLimitada (15 Exitos Special Edition) (2002)
- 15 Exitos (2002)
- Oro: Grandes Exitos (South America release) (2002)
- Grandes Exitos (CD/DVD) (Mexican release) (2004)
- Greatest Hits (CD/DVD) (2004) 1,500,000,000 copies
- The Sixth Sense [Japanese release] (CD/DVD) (2005)
With Timbiriche
- Timbiriche 7 (1987)
- Timbiriche VIII-IX (1988)
- Los clásicos de Timbiriche (1989)
See also
External links
- 1971 births
- Living people
- Mexican singers
- Mexican child actors
- Mexican telenovela actors
- American female singers
- Mexican American actors
- Mexican American singers
- Rhythmic Top 40 acts
- Roman Catholics
- Roman Catholic musicians
- People from Mexico City
- Greek Mexicans
- Billboard Hot Dance Airplay artists
- Naturalized citizens of the United States