Miguel Ríos Campaña (born 7 June 1944) is a Spanish singer, composer, actor. He is one of the pioneers of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm ...

in Spain.

Biography

Ríos was born in La Cartuja, a neighborhood of

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 ...

. 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 60

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

, in which he and his friends won a prize for singing the Paul Anka

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetiti ...

"You Are My Destiny". With his mother's permission (his father had died a few months earlier), he moved to

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 ...

in 1961 at the age of sixteen, where he recorded his first four

s. In popular circles he became known as ''Mike Ríos, the King of Twist''. As Mike Ríos he obtained some

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

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 into cinema with a movie titled ''Dos 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 a superstar in Spain. His song "Himno de la alegría" (Hymn of Joy) was an extract of the last movement of the ninth symphony of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

and appeared at the height of what was known as symphonic rock. It was released in both the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

as "

A Song of Joy "A Song of Joy" ("Himno de la alegría") is the title of a popular rock song by the Spanish singer and actor Miguel Ríos. It is set to the tune the Ninth Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, as arranged by Waldo de los Ríos, who specialized in ar ...

" in May 1970 on the

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

label, where combined sales in the U.S. and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

reached the one million mark in July. It reached No. 16 in the UK singles charts in August 1970. It was awarded a gold record by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

. The song peaked at number 1 in Australia and Canada. Ríos sold three million copies worldwide and was number one on some foreign music

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

. It reached Number 14 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 1970. The artistic career of Rios came to a sudden stop when, in 1972, he was arrested and jailed for smoking of

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various t ...

shortly after his ''Rock y Amor'' (Rock and Love)

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide var ...

. In the mid seventies he recorded three

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

albums, but they were not commercially successful. In 1980, one of his most successful songs, "Santa Lucía", a ballad by Argentinian Roque Narvaja, appeared in his ''Rocanrol bumerang'' album. In 1982, Rios released ''Rock and Rios'' a

live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music * Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of album ...

double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...

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 many music critics and fans as one of the most important works of modern Spanish (Iberian) rock and a turning point for the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

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 a tour 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), which is a term that loosely defines the street youth culture of the 1980s in Spain.

Discography/certifications

*''Mira hacia ti'' 1969 *''Despierta'' 1970 *''Unidos'' 1971 *''Miguel Ríos en directo: Conciertos de Rock y amor''.1972 *''Miguel Ríos: Éxitos'' 1973 *''Memorias de un ser humano'' 1974 *''La huerta atómica'' 1976 *''Al-Andalus'' 1977 *''Los viejos rokeros nunca mueren'' 1979 *''Rocanrol bumerang'' 1980 - Spain: Gold (1980, page 913) *''Extraños en el escaparate'' 1981 - Spain: Gold (1981 page 914) *''Rock and Rios'' 1982 - Spain 3× Platinum (1982, page 916) *''El Rock de una noche de verano'' 1983 *''La encrucijada'' 1984 - Spain: Gold (1984, page 918) *''Lo más de rock en el ruedo'' 1985 *''El año del cometa'' 1986 *''Que noche la de aquel año'' 1987 *''Miguel Ríos'' 1989 *''Directo al corazón'' 1991 *''Así que pasen treinta años'' 1992 *''Por siempre'' 1995 *''Canciones de amor para tiempos difíciles'' 1995 *''Como si fuera la primera vez'' 1996 *''Miguel Ríos en concierto: Big Band Ríos'' 1998 *''Ana Belén, Miguel Ríos cantan a

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

'' 1999 *''Miguel Ríos y las estrellas del rock latino'' 2001 *''60mp3'' 2004 *''Solo o en compañía de otros'' 2008 *''Bye Bye Ríos'' 2010 *''Symphonic Ríos'' (1CD + DVD) 2018

References and notes

''Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent Spanish-language Wikipedia article, accessed September 5, 2006.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Rios, Miguel 1944 births Living people People from Granada Singers from Andalusia Spanish male singers Rock en Español musicians Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Latin music composers Latin music record producers Spanish composers Spanish male composers Spanish record producers