Miguel Ríos - Mira hacia ti (1969)

Miguel Ríos - Mira hacia ti (1969)

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Miguel Ríos Campaña (born 7 June 1944, Granada, Spain) is a Spanish singer, composer, actor. 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 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 the United States and the United Kingdom as "A Song of Joy" in May 1970 on the A&M Records label, where combined sales in the U.S. and Canada 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.

He 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.

The artistic career of Rios came to a sudden stop when he was arrested and jailed for possession of hashish shortly after his Rock y Amor (Rock and Love) concert. In the mid seventies he recorded three progressive rock albums, but they were not commercially successful.

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 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.

Miguel Ríos Discography Full

1969 Mira hacia ti

1970 Despierta

1971 Unidos

1972 Miguel Ríos en directo: Conciertos de Rock y amor

1973 Miguel Ríos: Éxitos

1974 Memorias de un ser humano

1976 La huerta atómica

1977 Al-Andalus

1979 Los viejos rokeros nunca mueren

1980 Rocanrol bumerang - Spain: Gold

1981 Extraños en el escaparate - Spain: Gold

1982 Rock and Rios - Spain 3× Platinum

1983 El Rock de una noche de verano

1984 La encrucijada - Spain: Gold

1985 Lo más de rock en el ruedo

1986 El año del cometa

1987 Que noche la de aquel año

1989 Miguel Ríos

1991 Directo al corazón

1992 Así que pasen treinta años

1995 Por siempre

1995 Canciones de amor para tiempos difíciles

1996 Como si fuera la primera vez

1998 Miguel Ríos en concierto: Big Band Ríos

1999 Ana Belén, Miguel Ríos cantan a Kurt Weill

2001 Miguel Ríos y las estrellas del rock latino

2004 60mp3

2008 Solo o en compañía de otros

2010 Bye Bye Ríos

2018 Symphonic Ríos (1CD + DVD)