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The exuberant pop star Ricky Martin is credited with single-handedly sparking the Latin Explosion of 1999. Ricky's got it all-a smooth voice, classically hunky good looks and stage moves that make the ladies scream. The man twitches his hips and the first five rows swoon dead away. But Ricky didn't spring full formed as a glowing Latin pop superhero. Before we all knew his name, he was one of many aspiring kids to do time in the Hispanic boy band Menudo. Menudo was more of an institution than a unified group of musicians and the band's gimmick was keeping their members young and unthreatening-Ricky was kicked out as soon as he was old enough to shave. Ricky never stopped feeling his music, but after Menudo he tried his talents at acting on the soap opera General Hospital, and captured the lead roll on Broadway in the romantic musical Les Miserables. Martin was a Latin pop secret-though international soccer fans got a tip with his raucous World Cup '98 single "The Cup of Life"-until he performed the giddy smash single "La Vida Loca" at the 1999 Grammy Awards ceremonies. The single switched genres as fast you could blink, between a fiery Latin salsa to an acid surf rock groove to a straight up slick slice of pop bliss. Ricky Martin savored his victory over the English language press, then went on to shake things up again on his follow-up disc Sound Loaded. "She Bangs," the first single, was even more over-caffeinated than "La Vida Loca" and Ricky Martin's tender ballad, "No Body Wants To Be Lonely," saw him trading steamy verses with the part-Ecuadorian chanteuse Christina Aguilera.

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