On February 24, 1999, Ricky Martin forever changed the trajectory of his career – and the music industry – with a hip-swiveling performance for the ages.
25 years later, Martin’s rousing rendition of “Copa De La Vida”/”The Cup Of Life” at the 41st annual Grammy Awards is still considered one of the best in the Recording Academy’s history and the cause of many gay awakenings!
Released a year earlier, “Copa De La Vida” was the official song of the 1998 World Cup and was included on Martin’s fourth studio album Vuelve.
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While Martin had already garnered international fame from his early days in the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo and with a string of solo Spanish-language hits like “Maria,” mainstream success in the United States had eluded him.
That all changed after the then-27-year-old took to the Grammy stage in a pair of leather pants alongside a 15-piece band and a team of dancers, percussionists, and two giant stilt performers waving streamers that turned the telecast into a bilingual carnival of show-stopping Latin joy.
Neither viewers at home nor the sedate audience inside the Shrine Auditorium were prepared for what was to come after Grammy host Rosie O’Donnell introduced the performance by referencing Martin’s previous stint on General Hospital saying, “TV star and cutie patootie Ricky Martin.”
The infectious show-stopping number was a resounding hit as A-listers like Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sting’s wife Trudie Styler and Jennifer Lopez could be seen taking to their feet giving Martin a standing ovation.
O’Donnell later chimed in admitting, “I never knew of him before tonight. But I’m enjoying him soooooo much.”
Minutes later, Martin won the Grammy for Best Latin Pop Performance for his album Vuelve and received the ultimate approval from the Queen of Pop herself.
While talking to the press backstage following his win, Martin got a surprise ambush from Madonna – who wound up winning 3 Grammys herself that night – as she came up behind me and sealed his big moment with a kiss on the cheek.
Martin was now the music industry’s It boy and on his way to crossover success. One month later, he would release his blockbuster hit “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” the lead single off his first English-language album Ricky Martin.
The album would go on to debut at the top of the Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 661,000 copies, which at the time was more than an any other pop or Latin artist in history.
Both the album and the buzz created by Martin’s Grammy performance helped usher in what became known as the “Latin explosion” in the US market as other Latin artists like Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias, Shakira, and J.Lo soon exploded onto the top of the charts.
“I will always be incredibly thankful to the Grammys for letting me perform that night,” Martin told Yahoo Music in 2015. “There was definitely a before and after.”
However, Martin’s historic Grammy spectacle almost never happened because Grammy execs were worried audiences were not ready for Martin’s Latin excellence.
“There was tremendous resistance from the Grammys,” former Columbia Records CEO Tommy Mottola told Billboard in 2019. “They did not want an ‘unknown’ to perform, yet we he had already sold 10 million copies of Vuelve worldwide. To me, that was absolutely unacceptable.”
Thankfully, Martin was able to show America what he could do and the rest is history.
Today, Latin artists and Spanish-language hits dominate the industry with a slew of mainstream acts like Maluma, J. Balvin, Karol G, Cardi B, and Bad Bunny, who was Spotify’s Most Streamed Artist for three years in a row.
Martin, who publicly came out in 2010, is currently in the midst of his sold out Trilogy tour alongside fellow Latin pop heavyweights Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull.
While Martin isn’t performing this year, the 2024 Grammys air Sunday on CBS at 8pm ET/5pm PT. Check out a video of the 52-year-old hunk performing his latest single “Fuego de Noche, Nieve de Día” below:
While you’re here, head over to the Queerties Awards, where Ricky is nominated in the Insta-Follow category. Vote one per day per device through February 22!
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