Rosa María López Cortés (
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2002
The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 was the 47th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tallinn, Estonia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Everybody" by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL. Organised by the Euro ...
, which was the most followed in the country since there are official audience statistics and in which she obtained the seventh position with the song "Europe's living a celebration". It was her first musical success and reached number one on the Los 40 radio tally.
In 2002, she recorded his debut album, Rosa, which reached number one on the Promusicae chart with record sales. The following year, she achieved the same position for two consecutive weeks with her second album Now and achieved another number one in Los 40 with the song "La esencia de tu voz". In addition, the songs "A solas con mi corazón" and "Don't stop the music, baby" reached sixth and second place, respectively, in physical sales by Promusicae and the latter the fifth in Los 40. For this reason, she received the Dial award to one of the most outstanding interpreters of 2003 in Spain. Three years later, she received the Antena de Oro award for her work in the world of music. In the following years, she continued to be active publishing a series of recordings that reached the top of the aforementioned list. In addition, she participated in various entertainment programs; in the third edition of Mira quién baila! it was proclaimed the winner, while in the fifth edition of ''
Tu cara me suena'', she finished second.
She was recognized by the Junta de Andalucía with two distinctions: the regional medal in 2002, and the Andalusian flag award in 2010. She received the Armilla gold medal. Throughout her career, she has sold more than a million copies and accumulates a total of seven platinum and four gold records.
Background
Rosa María López Cortés was born in
Peñuelas,
Láchar (
Granada
Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...
) on 14 January 1981 to Eduardo López and Francisca Cortés. She was raised in the town of Peñuelas with her parents and her three brothers.
Rosa started singing at weddings, baptisms, communions and celebrations for the people of Granada over the weekends with her younger brother at the piano and her father. She was a member of several orchestras, and later created the Trio Roxa.
In September 2001, Rosa auditioned for new reality-show ''
Operación Triunfo
''Star Academy'', called ''Operación Triunfo'' ("Operation Triumph") in Spanish-speaking countries, is a highly successful television pop music talent contest with viewer voting and reality show elements.
Format
There are many versions of t ...
'' and she was selected to enter the show's academy. On 22 October 2001, at the age of 20, she became one of the 16 contestants of the first season of ''
Operación Triunfo
''Star Academy'', called ''Operación Triunfo'' ("Operation Triumph") in Spanish-speaking countries, is a highly successful television pop music talent contest with viewer voting and reality show elements.
Format
There are many versions of t ...
''. One of the prizes of the competition was to become the Spanish entrant at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2002
The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 was the 47th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tallinn, Estonia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Everybody" by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL. Organised by the Euro ...
. Soon titled "Rosa de España" ("Rose of Spain"), she won the competition on 11 February 2002 with 26.6% of the votes, in a finale that achieved a record audience of 10,680,000 viewers and a share of 58.8%.
From 4 April to 1 June 2002, the 16 participants of ''Operación Triunfo'' toured 27 cities in Spain with 600,000 tickets sold, performing sold-out concerts at the
Palau Sant Jordi in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
and the
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium
The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium ( es, Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, ) is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a current seating capacity of 81,044, it has been the home stadium of Real Madrid since its completion in 1947. It is the second-larg ...
in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
.
TVE 1 aired the Bernabéu Stadium concert, becoming the most watched concert in Spain, with 5,136,000 million viewers and a 39.5% share. The re-run of this concert on 9 July resulted in 3,174,000 million viewers and a 27.9% Share.
Music career
2002–2005: First album and first success stories
Once proclaimed the winner of ''Operation Triunfo'', López began her musical career by signing a three-album deal with Sony BMG Music, RCA Records and Vale Music. She starred in several TV spots like ''Todos contra el fuego'' for the Ministry of the Environment (along with fellow ''Operación Triunfo'' contestants), and for New World Jewels, the latter with a two-year deal. On 25 April 2002 she released the namesake studio album ''Rosa'', consisting of Latin pop genre compositions by songwriters such as
Armando Manzanero
Armando Manzanero Canché (7 December 1935 – 28 December 2020) was a Mexican Mayan musician, singer, composer, actor and music producer, widely considered the premier Mexican romantic composer of the postwar era and one of the most successfu ...
, Inma Serrano and
José Luis Perales
José Luis Perales Morillas (born 18 January 1945) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He has recorded 27 albums and 50 million copies sold worldwide. His compositions have been recorded by singers such as Vikki Carr, Bertín Osborne, R ...
. The album was commercially successful selling over 500,000 copies in Spain, and her first single, "
Europe's Living a Celebration
Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with an entry selected through the first series of the reality casting show ''Operación Triunfo''. Rosa with the song "Europe's Living a Celebration", composed by Toni and Xasqui Ten, was cho ...
", topped the hit list of radio
Los 40 Principales
Los 40 (The 40, stylized as LOS40 and formerly ''Los 40 Principales'', es, Los Cuarenta) is a Top 40 music radio network and radio station brand in many Spanish-speaking countries from PRISA Radio. The station has its origins as a music show ...
. With "Europe's Living a Celebration", she finished in the 7th position at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2002
The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 was the 47th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tallinn, Estonia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Everybody" by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL. Organised by the Euro ...
in
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...
. The summer after Eurovision, López extensively toured Spain. During the tour, she started having problems with her voice but continued working until mid-September, when she cancelled the rest of the tour. López spent a year out of the public eye and due to speculation, she called a press conference where she explained that she would soon return to the stage.
On 29 October 2003, López released her second album ''Ahora'', with a dance-pop style. The album was a commercial success and exceeded sales projections reaching number one twice in the official albums chart; its lead single "La esencia de tu voz" topped
Los 40 Principales
Los 40 (The 40, stylized as LOS40 and formerly ''Los 40 Principales'', es, Los Cuarenta) is a Top 40 music radio network and radio station brand in many Spanish-speaking countries from PRISA Radio. The station has its origins as a music show ...
' hit list. From April to September 2004, she conducted a promotional tour of the album. In June 2004, López traveled to
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
for a fortnight to promote the album to the media. A few weeks later she became the image of computer brand Odin. On 16 November 2004 she released her third album, ''Ójala'', which was intended to be a small gift for her fans by singing Christmas songs and new songs written for the occasion. In 2005 López decided to take a sabbatical year with small appearances on television and a short tour with the Granada Blues Band touring major cities in the region of
Andalusia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...
.
The singer and Granada Blues Band recorded two singles, one of which became part of the soundtrack of the movie ''Buscando a Emma''. A few months later, she recorded the title song of the movie ''
Torrente 3: El protector''.
2006–2009: Musical transition and personal evolution
In 2006, Rosa López undertook a new stage of her professional career, having lost 40 kilos of weight, with a modern image and more mature themes. In early 2006 she participated in the dancing talent show ''
Mira quién baila'' (Spanish version of ''
Strictly Come Dancing
''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 j ...
''), where she was proclaimed winner of the season. On 30 May she launched her fourth studio album ''Me siento viva'' with dance-pop sounds that represented a major change from her previous works, mixed by internationally renowned sound engineers Ankelius Martin and Dan Hetzel. At the end of June, she started the tour ''Me siento viva'' until October; shortly after the start of the tour, she became the image of XLS products. In early December, she appeared in the special show commemorating the 50 years of history of
Televisión Española
Televisión Española (acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in ...
, performing
Rocío Jurado
María del Rocío Mohedano Jurado (, 18 September 1944 – 1 June 2006), better known as Rocío Jurado, was a Spanish singer and actress. She was born in Chipiona (Cádiz) and nicknamed "La más grande" ("The Greatest").
In 2000 in New York Ci ...
's hit song "Como una ola". Later that month, on 26 December 2006, also in TVE, she appeared in the special show ''Disco del Año'', where the audience chose the best album of the year in Spain. Her album ''Me siento viva'' was named the best album of the year with the 27% of the votes.
During 2007, she debuted as an actress in the theatre play ''La menegilda'', and also appeared in several TV series and television adverts. In summer 2007, she returned to stage for the ''Me siento viva'' concert tour. López decided to prepare a new album for early 2008, but due to the death of her father, the album was postponed. In 2008, she was chosen by TVE to represent Spain in the
Eurovision Dance Contest 2008
The Eurovision Dance Contest 2008 was the second and final edition of the Eurovision Dance Contest and was held in Glasgow, Scotland, hosted by the BBC on 6 September. The presenters were, as in the previous edition, Graham Norton and Claudia ...
, but shortly before the competition took place TVE decided to pull out of the contest.
On 7 October 2008, her fifth studio album ''Promesas'' was released, consisting of covers of 10 classic international Pop-rock songs from the 80s and 90s, produced by Jordi Cristau. On 22 December López participated in the special show aired by TVE ''Plácido y la copla'', a tribute to the
copla genre and to
Plácido Domingo
José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French ...
, performing the songs "Súspiros de España" and "La Zarzamora". In June 2009, she began the tour ''Promesas'' in her native city of Granada, which took her across the country.
On 3 November 2009, López released her sixth album ''Propiedad de nadie'', consisting of songs written by
José Luis Perales
José Luis Perales Morillas (born 18 January 1945) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He has recorded 27 albums and 50 million copies sold worldwide. His compositions have been recorded by singers such as Vikki Carr, Bertín Osborne, R ...
and produced by his song Pablo Perales.
2010–present: New albums and television shows
In 2010, López performed in events such as ''Gala Especial Manolo Escobar'', a tribute to
Manolo Escobar
Don Manuel García Escobar MML (19 October 1931 – 24 October 2013), better known as Manolo Escobar, was a Spanish singer of Andalusian '' copla'' and other Spanish music. He was also an actor and performed in multiple musicals. His popular ...
aired on television, where she performed "Solo te pido" together with Manolo Escobar and "¡Qué viva España!" together with Escobar and the rest of guest performers. An episode of docu-reality ''Volver con...'' on
TVE
TVE may stand for:
Television
* Televisión Española, a Spanish state-owned public-service television broadcaster
** TVE HD, a high-definition channel run by Televisión Española
* Televisão Educativa, a defunct Brazilian TV network
* TV Eduk ...
centered on her. López participated in the ceremony of
Beatification
Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to Intercession of saints, intercede on behalf of individual ...
of
Leopold of Alpandeire at the airbase of
Armilla, Granada, performing
Schubert's Ave Maria. Also that year, she conducted two tours across Spain: the ''Propiedad de nadie'' tour with 14 concerts, and the ''Gira 10 Aniversario'' tour with nine concerts, which prolonged until 2011.
Her seventh studio album, the second namesake album of her career ''Rosa López'', was released on 19 June 2012, produced by
Alejandro de Pinedo
Alejandro Gil Pinedo, better known as Alejandro de Pinedo (born 1965 in Cadiz, Spain) is a Spanish musician, composer, author, music producer, chill-out music artist and CEO of the record company AGP Music. His music is heard in more than 170 c ...
. The lead single of the album was a cover of
Mari Trini
Mari may refer to:
Places
*Mari, Paraíba, Brazil, a city
*Mari, Cyprus, a village
*Mari, Greece, a village, site of ancient town of Marius (Laconia), Marius
*Mari, Iran (disambiguation), places in Iran
*Mari, Punjab, a village and a union counc ...
's song "Yo noy soy esa"; the album was a return to the dance-pop genre after six years. The tour that accompanied the album began on 13 May 2012 in Madrid and prolonged in 2013 and 2014 with more than 40 concerts in theatres across Spain,
In 2015, López was part of the talent show for songwriters ''
Hit - la canción'' (Spanish version of
Irish format ''
The Hit''), aired on
TVE 1. In the show López picked to perform the song "Me da igual", which was released as a single. On 10 February 2015, in the show's finale, "Me da igual" was voted the winner by the audience. It peaked at number 11 on the
Spanish Singles Chart
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
.
On 31 March 2015, López performed at the special concert show ''
Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits'' in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, produced by the
BBC and the
EBU, which commemorated the 60th anniversary of the
Eurovision Song Contest.
On 14 July 2016, López was announced to join the cast of the fifth season of television show ''
Tu cara me suena'', in which celebrity contestants impersonate a different iconic music artist on stage each week. The season premiered on 7 October 2016 on
Antena 3. In the season finale that took place on 4 March 2017, she finished in second place. In 2016, López, along with the rest of contestants from the first season of ''
Operación Triunfo'', starred in the television special ''OT: El Reencuentro'', which commemorated the 15th anniversary of the show. ''OT: El Reencuentro'' consisted of three docu-show episodes and a live concert that was aired on
La 1 from
Palau Sant Jordi in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
on 31 October 2016 with 4.1 million viewers.
On 26 May 2017, López released the single "Ahora pienso en mí", which preceded the release of her eight studio album ''Kairós'', on 30 June 2017. The release of the album coincided in time with the premiere on 26 June 2017 of a six-episode
reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...
series starred by López, ''Soy Rosa'', which focuses on her personal and professional life. The series aired on Ten.
2002: Eurovision Song Contest
In the finale of the
Eurovision phase of ''
Operación Triunfo
''Star Academy'', called ''Operación Triunfo'' ("Operation Triumph") in Spanish-speaking countries, is a highly successful television pop music talent contest with viewer voting and reality show elements.
Format
There are many versions of t ...
'', the audience decided that Rosa would represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...
,
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
on 22 May 2002, with the song "
Europe's Living a Celebration
Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with an entry selected through the first series of the reality casting show ''Operación Triunfo''. Rosa with the song "Europe's Living a Celebration", composed by Toni and Xasqui Ten, was cho ...
".
Rosa performed the song "
Europe's Living a Celebration
Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with an entry selected through the first series of the reality casting show ''Operación Triunfo''. Rosa with the song "Europe's Living a Celebration", composed by Toni and Xasqui Ten, was cho ...
", accompanied by fellow ''Operación Triunfo'' contestants
David Bisbal
David Bisbal Ferre (born 5 June 1979) is a Spanish singer, songwriter, and actor. He gained his initial fame as a runner-up on the interactive reality television show ''Operación Triunfo''.
He has since released five studio albums, all of whi ...
,
David Bustamante,
Chenoa
María Laura Corradini Falomir (born June 25, 1975, in Mar del Plata, Argentina) popularly known as Chenoa, is an Argentine-Spanish music artist who rose to fame as a contestant on reality television singing competition ''Operación Triunfo''. H ...
,
Gisela and
Geno Machado as backing singers and finished in 7th position with 81 points, despite being tipped to win by the Spanish media. Yet the broadcast achieved an audience of 14,380,000 viewers in Spain (85.2% Share), becoming the most watched program in the history of television in Spain since the arrival of private broadcasters (1990). It remained the most watched television broadcast in Spain until it was surpassed by the final of
UEFA Euro 2008
The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...
.
Other projects
2006 and 2008: Mira quién baila
In 2006, López was proclaimed winner of the third season of ''
Mira quién baila'' (Spanish version of ''
Strictly Come Dancing
''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 j ...
'') with 62% of the popular vote, followed by
Milene Domingues and
David Meca.
On 7 January 2008, López took part in a special episode to choose the best dancer among almost all the contestants who had participated in the first six seasons. In this special, López was proclaimed winner.
Albums
* 2002: ''Rosa'' #1 Spain (500.000 units) 5× platinum
* 2003: ''Ahora'' #1 Spain (200.000 units) 2× platinum
* 2004: ''Ojalá'' #4 Spain (50.000 units) gold
* 2005: ''Rosa En Concierto'' (DVD) #9 Spain
* 2006: ''Me siento viva'' #2 Spain (40.000 units) gold
* 2008: ''Promesas'' #2 Spain (40.000 units) gold
* 2009: ''Propiedad de nadie'' #5 Spain (30.000 units) gold
* 2012: ''Rosa López'' #4 Spain
* 2013: ''Lo mejor de Rosa''
* 2017: ''Kairós'' #2 Spain
Tours
*2002: ''Gira Rosa''
*2004: ''Gira Ahora''
*2006–2007: ''Gira Me Siento Viva''
*2009: ''Gira Promesas''
*2010: ''Propiedad De Nadie Tour 2010''
*2010-2011: ''Gira 10 aniversario''
*2012-2014: ''Gira Rosa López''
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Rosa
1981 births
Living people
People from the Province of Granada
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2002
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Spain
Star Academy winners
Singers from Andalusia
Operación Triunfo contestants
21st-century Spanish singers
21st-century Spanish women singers
Spanish people of Romani descent