Luis Miguel, Mexican singer-songwriter and producer
Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri (born 19 April 1970) is a Mexican singer of Spanish and Italian descent, often referred to as El Sol de México (The Sun of Mexico), which is the nickname his mother gave him as a child—"mi sol". Luis Miguel has sung in multiple genres and styles, including pop songs, ballads, boleros, tangos, jazz, big band, and mariachi. 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, he continued to be the best-selling Latin artist in the 1990s, and was credited for popularizing the bolero genre into 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. Having won his first Grammy at age 14 for his duet "Me Gustas Tal Como Eres" with Sheena Easton, he is the youngest male artist in music history to have received this accolade. In 1991, the RIAA recognized the high sales for his 1991 album Romance, itself being the third-best-selling music album in Mexico, and one of the best-selling Spanish language albums of all time. He was the first Latin artist to be awarded two platinum certified Spanish-language albums in the United States with 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 the Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart. His album Complices was released in 2008 and peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200, and his most recent album ¡México Por Siempre! was released in 2017, and it earned him his second No. 1 on the Billboard Regional Mexican Albums and achieved double-platinum status.
Luis Miguel is also known for his high-grossing live performances. He is the first-highest grossing Latin touring artist since Boxscore began tracking touring data in 1990, with a towering 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.