Miguel Ríos Campaña (born 7 June 1944)
is a Spanish singer and composer. He is one of the pioneers of
rock and roll in Spain.
Biography
Ríos was born in
La Cartuja, a neighborhood of
Granada. 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, in which he and his friends won a prize for singing the
Paul Anka song "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 List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
in 1961 at the age of sixteen, where he
recorded his first four
songs. In popular circles he became known as ''Mike Ríos, the King of Twist''.
As Mike Ríos he obtained some
television 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 and appeared at the height of what was known as
symphonic rock. It was released in both North America 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
as "
A Song of Joy" in May 1970 on the
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...
label, where combined sales in the U.S. and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
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 song peaked at number 1 in Australia
and Canada.
Ríos sold three million copies worldwide and was number one on some foreign music
charts. It reached Number 14 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 1970.
His next single, ''Like An Eagle'', reached number 72 in Canada and number 29 in Australia.
The artistic career of Rios came to a sudden stop when, in 1972, he was arrested and jailed for smoking of
marijuana shortly after his ''Rock y Amor'' (Rock and Love)
concert
A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...
. In the mid seventies he recorded three
progressive rock 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 double 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 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 are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...
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) or
La 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 as
Luz Casal and
Leño 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 album ''La 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''.
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'' 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
*''Un largo tiempo'' (2021)
References
External links
Miguel Ríose
Todomusica.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rios, Miguel
1944 births
Living people
Entertainers 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