Ricardo Arjona

Edgar Ricardo Arjona Moralis was born on January 19, 1964, in Jocotenango. Guatemala. When Ricardo was 2 years old, his family moved to the capital, where the boy started studying music. When he was 12, Arjona won Festival Infantil Juventud 74 with the song “Gracias al Mundo” written by his father. After school, Ricardo enrolled at the Saint Carlos University in Guatemala to major in engineering. However, after some time, he changed his specialization to social communications.  At 21, Ricardo started his musical career with LP Déjame Decir Que Te Amo in cooperation with record label PolyGram. Despite positive critical reviews, the album was unprofitable. This failure forced Arjona to leave the music world and start working as a teacher in a primary school.

Nevertheless, 3 years later, Arjona changed his mind and entered OTI (similar to Eurovision) singing competition in Guatemala. Soon he released his second LP Jesús, Verbo No Sustantivo, which made Ricardo famous in Latin America and the USA. In the beginning of the 90’s, Arjona signed the contract with Sony Music and released several LPs. In addition, he wrote songs for other artists. In 1994, he recorded LP Animal Nocturno, which included hit songs “Mujeres” and “Primera Vez”. It became platinum 13 times and was certified diamond once. More than 500,000 copies sold. It was an incredible success. After the album’s release, the fans started calling Ricardo Animal Nocturno. The 5th album was also very successful. It became platinum 27 times and diamond twice. While recording the 6th LP Si el Norte Fuera el Sur, Ricardo suddenly switched from love lyrics to the problems of globalization and nationalism. Billboard called it the best album of 1997. It became very popular in the US and Argentina.

On December 5, 1998, on the Guatemalan hippodrome with 100,000 fans, Ricardo recorded his first live LP, which was overwhelmingly successful  in Argentina, USA, and Mexica. In 2000, he went on a world tour to support the new LP Galería Caribe. The single “Mesias” from this album was almost a prophecy about 9 -11 terrorist attacks. Later, FBI even checked the singer in regards to the matter. After a long cooperation with Sony Music, Ricardo signed a contract with Warner Music Latina in 2007. While working with them, he created several successful LPs, which became bestsellers in Mexica, USA, Spain, Columbia, and Guatemala.

In 2010 Billboard Music Award called Arjona The Best Latin Tour of the Year. The next LP Poquita Ropa earned a golden certification in Chili, USA, Columbia, and platinum in Argentina and Mexica. Ricardo Arjona’s style is unique. It is a combination of ballads, pop, rock, Cuban and Latin-American music. In his songs, he doesn’t just talk about love, the artist touches on nationalism, racism, violence and immigration problems. Many clubs and organizations try to book Ricardo Arjona for their events in order to listen to his beautiful music and thoughtful lyrics.