Biography

Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri (born 19 April 1970) is a Mexican singer and record producer. Born in Puerto Rico to an Italian mother and a Spanish father, he is often referred to as El Sol de Mexico (The Sun of Mexico), derived from the nickname his mother gave him as a child: "Mi sol" (My sun). Luis Miguel has sung in multiple genres and styles, including pop songs, ballads, boleros, tangos, jazz, big band, and mariachi. Luis Miguel is also recognized as the only Latin singer of his generation to not cross over to the Anglo market during the "Latin Explosion" in the 1990s.Despite recording only in Spanish, Luis Miguel continued to be the best-selling Latin artist in the 1990s, and was credited for popularizing the bolero genre within the mainstream market. He has sold around 60 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling Latin music artists.

Latin pop music, along with his personal life and showmanship on stage, has made Luis Miguel popular for nearly his entire career, which started in Mexico in 1981. At the age of 14, he received his first Grammy for his duet "Me Gustas Tal Como Eres" with Sheena Easton, making him one of the youngest Grammy-winning artists in music history. In 1991, the RIAA recognized the success of his 1991 album Romance as one of the best-selling Latin albums of all time. He was the first Latino artist to earn two platinum certifications for Spanish-language albums in the United States, for Romance and Segundo Romance (the latter earning him 35 platinum records throughout Central and South America). He is also recognized by Billboard as the artist with the most top-10 hits on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart. His album Cómplices was released in 2008, peaking at No. 10 on the mainstream Billboard 200; his most recent album, ¡México Por Siempre!, was released in 2017 and earned him his second No. 1 on the Billboard Regional Mexican Albums chart, achieving double-platinum status.

Luis Miguel is also known for his high-grossing, captivating live performances. He is the highest-grossing Latino touring artist since Boxscore began tracking touring data in 1990, with a total of $278.5 million. With the Luis Miguel Tour, which took place in 2010, he visited 22 countries in North America, South America and Europe, where he performed in a three-year span with a total of 223 shows all over the world, making it the longest and highest-grossing tour ever made by a Latin artist. He also holds the record for the most consecutive presentations in the Auditorio Nacional (National Auditorium) with a total of 30 consecutive concerts as well as the record for the most presentations in the same venue with a total of 258 concerts. As of October 2020, Luis Miguel ranks number two on Billboard's Greatest of All-Time Latin Artists chart.