Miguel Rios

Miguel Ríos Campaña (Granada, June 7, 1944) is a rock and ballad singer-songwriter in Spanish and one of the pioneers of rock in his country.

He has been active since the 1960s, when he was known as Mike Ríos, the King of Twist, and achieved his greatest success with the «Hymn to Joy», whose English version «A Song of Joy» was a worldwide success through the arrangements of the conductor Waldo de los Ríos. His best-selling album has been Rock and Ríos, a direct double released in 1982. Five years later he successfully presented and received enormous support in production, on Televisión Española, the program ¡Qué noche the one from that year!, a review of the history of rock music in Spain. Since then he has collaborated with countless artists from Spain and Latin America and participated in various tours with some of them, as well as making versions of some of their most emblematic songs, as in the case of his tours with Sabina, Víctor Manuel, Ana Belén or Serrat or in the recordings of successful songs by Joan Manuel Serrat, Roque Narvaja, Moris, Charly García or Alejandro Lerner. Throughout these years his style has varied from the most primitive rock and roll to progressive or pop and, in recent years, towards big band jazz or blues.

Biography

The early years

Miguel Ríos was born in the Cartuja neighborhood of Granada, the youngest of nine children in a lower-class family. His family came from the Granada municipality of Chauchina. As soon as he finished his studies, at the Salesians, he had to get to work. His first occupation, at the age of fifteen, was as a clerk in a bar and later he worked as an employee in the record section of a department store, where he would come into contact with rock and roll, which gave rise to the desire to become a in Singer. At that time, Ríos would discover the music of Elvis Presley, which would inspire him to definitively turn towards a musical career. In this regard, Ríos would comment & # 34; his music helped me take the midnight train that would change my life and for years Elvis was God and I wanted to be his prophet & # 34;.

Accompanied by a group of friends, he entered Radio Granada's Cinderella 60 contest, performing "You Are My Destiny", by Paul Anka, and won. With his mother's permission, since his father had died a few months before, he moved to Madrid in 1960, when he was only sixteen years old, with the help of a talent scout. After a first stage of financial difficulties, on January 2, 1962 he recorded the first four songs of his for an EP with the Polygram company, a job for which he received 3,000 pesetas.

At that time it was said that rock and roll had died and that what would triumph would be the twist, so, eager to record at all costs, he agreed to be commercially baptized as Mike Ríos, the King of Twist, a name that gave the title to that first recording and with which it would become popular during the first half of the 60s. Thus, this first work included "El twist", a Spanish version of Hank Ballard's original and "Twist de Saint- Tropez", as well as "Pera madura", a rock by Italian Pino Donaggio. During that year he recorded three more EPs: "Mike Ríos" (which includes "Twist del reloj"), "Mike Ríos Locomotion" (with "La locomotion", a version of "The Loco-Motion" by Carole King and Gerry Golfin) and «Mike Ríos with Los Relámpagos. Explosive!" (with "Popotitos", cover of Larry Williams' "Bonny Moronie")

In 1963 he began to participate in the Matinales del Price, youth music galas held on Saturday mornings at Circo Price, and he released a new EP with Los Relámpagos and two others without him. cluster. The first of them includes "El ritmo de la lluvia", a version of "Rhythm of the Rain" by the group The Cascades. At this time he participates in a contest presented by Joaquín Soler Serrano.

In 1964 he recorded his last two albums as Mike Ríos. The first of them, accompanied by the group Los Sonor, includes "Oh, my lord" ("O mio signore" by Mogol, Vianello and Mapel). For the recording of the third job of that year he finally recovers his real name. This album includes the song "Serenata bajo el sol", written by Waldo de los Ríos and for which Los Relámpagos once again accompanies him. The theme would be included the following year in his first foray into the cinema, Two crazy, crazy girls . During that 1965 he recorded two other EPs, the second of which included "Melodía encadenada", a version of Alex North's "Unchained Melody", and "Yesterday", a version of The Beatles' "Yesterday".

In 1966 he left the Philips record company and signed a contract with the Spanish Sonoplay, with which in that year he recorded several original songs in which he began to collaborate when writing the lyrics. These themes will be collected in four singles and in his latest EP, which includes four songs from the film Hamelin , in which he participates. The following year Philips publishes a single that includes the already published "Oh, my lord!" and "Tema para Rocío", by Herrero y Armenteros, again with Los Sonor.

The Big Hit: The Ode to Joy

In 1968 Miguel signed for Hispavox and his first single with the new label was a great success, with two songs that became classics of his career: "El río", by Fernando Arbex, and "Vuelvo a Granada", a tribute to his hometown written by Miguel himself. In the following singles he repeats his success with songs like Against the glass , El cartel and Mira hacia ti .

In 1969 he recorded what would be the greatest success of his entire career, the Hymn to Joy, an adaptation of the last movement of Beethoven's ninth symphony, arranged and conducted by the Argentinean Waldo de los Ríos, noted for his versions pop of great works of classical music. Emerged in the middle of the symphonic rock era and recorded by Miguel in English under the title A Song of Joy, it achieved worldwide fame in 1970, selling seven million copies worldwide and reaching No. 1 in the United States, Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, as well as having great success in other countries such as Japan, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands and Canada.

Regarding the success achieved, Miguel Ríos himself would declare: «It meant that he became aware that he could sing, write texts, use his imagination and build something solid like a record». Thus, that same year of 1969 he published Look towards you , his first "long album"; (Long Play, LP), which includes the hits of his singles with Hispavox plus other new songs.

With his career already fully consolidated, in 1970 he published Despierta and in 1971 Unidos, works that move in the field of symphonic rock. In 1972 he offered a concert tour that, with the name «Rock and love concerts » , represented the takeoff in the country of the necessary infrastructure for this type of event. The result of the tour is the album Miguel Ríos en directo: Conciertos de Rock y amor, one of the first live albums recorded in Spain and in which he returns to the roots of rock and roll with classic songs. that Elvis Presley made famous as «Hound Dog» or «Jailhouse Rock», but in which he also interprets, for example, «Cantares» by Joan Manuel Serrat. That same year, 1972, he was arrested for smoking marijuana and, after spending twenty-seven days in the Carabanchel jail, he was released without charge.

In 1974 he began his most committed stage with the LP Memories of a human being, which was followed in 1976 by La huerta atomica, with environmental claims, and, in 1977 With Al-Andalus he joined the current of groups that fused rock and flamenco.

The great tours: Rock and Ríos.

In 1978, sponsored by the Red Box jean brand, he organized the tour La noche roja, which he himself designed, directed and produced. It was the first tour with equipment brought from England, which allowed the best Spanish groups of the moment to perform with the same quality as the Anglo-Saxon bands, both in terms of light and sound, such as Triana, Iceberg, Tequila, Salvador and Guadalquivir.

In 1979 Old rockers never die was published which, although it received a good response among his followers, does not lead to predict that in this next stage of his career, between the late 70s and early 1970s, In the 1980s, Ríos would become at the top of Spanish music thanks to "Santa Lucía", a pop song by the Argentine composer and singer Roque Narvaja, which the man from Granada transformed into a slower ballad and included in his next LP Rocanrol bumerang (1980), and later with Año 2000 and Jugando a vivir, the latter also by Narvaja and belonging to the album Extraños en el escaparate (1981), heralding a new sales success the following year and which would lead the singer to shine again at the top.

In 1982 Miguel published the great jewel of Iberian rock of the 80s: Rock and Ríos, a double album recorded live in Madrid on March 5 and 6, in the company of well-known musicians such as Mario Argandoña, Sergio Castillo, the Dutchman Thijs van Leer and Antonio García de Diego. At that time, Ríos recorded a version of the song Sábado a la Noche by Argentine rocker Moris, which was also very well received by his fans and the general public.

The album, the prelude to a massive tour across the country that became a celebration of the newly launched democracy, was the most successful of his career, selling 400,000 copies. This same year she participated doing the choirs in the song Leave me alone , from the album Along the way by Víctor Manuel.

In 1983 he published The Rock of a Summer Night and went on the most successful tour of his career, with Luz Casal and Leño as opening acts. It offers 32 concerts in soccer fields and bullrings that are witnessed by more than 700,000 people. In 1984 he published La encrucijada and in 1985 Rock en el ruedo, a compilation, with a new song, which would give way to the tour of the same name, an economic failure that did not enjoyed the success of the previous ones. In 1986 he published the album The Year of the Comet with international production by Tom Dowd.

That same year, with the desire to bring rock music from the other side of the Atlantic closer to the Spanish public, he organized the Ibero-American Rock Meetings at the Palacio de los Deportes in Madrid, where for three days you can listen to various groups from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Spain and Venezuela. This admiration of Miguel for Latin American rock will be revealed once more in 1987 when he toured Mexico to fill the bullring in the capital.

That same year, he presented a program on the history of Spanish pop-rock music from 1962 to 1987 on Spanish Television, Qué noche la de aquella año!, which obtained great public success and win an Ondas Award. Throughout twenty-seven programs, Miguel performed with various singers and groups, some of which came together again for the occasion, various songs that have shaped the history of rock in Spanish. Also in 1987 he received the Gold Medal from the City of Granada. In 1989 he published a new LP, titled with his name, Miguel Ríos .

The 1990s

In 1991 he edited Directo al corazón. In those years he toured Latin America several times, closing his contract with Polydor in 1992 with the publication of the compilation Así 30 años pasan , which includes a new song and another unpublished one.. In 1993 he received the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts, the first awarded to a rocker in Spain, from King Juan Carlos. During that year and the following year he made and presented the program Fiebre de sur for Canal Sur.

In 1994, invited by Víctor Manuel, he participated in the concert of the Mucho más que dos tour held on April 8 and 9 together with Ana Belén, Serrat, Antonio Flores, Pablo Milanés, Manolo Tena, Sabina and Juan Echanove. Miguel participated in the songs Luna, El blues del bus and La puerta de Alcalá, apart from doing the choirs for Ana Belén in Spain white shirt of my hope.

Serrat, Ana Belén, Miguel Ríos and Víctor Manuel in 1996 in the presentation of the tour The taste is our

In 1996, after five years without a new job, he released As if it were the first time, with Virgin Records. That same year, together with Serrat, Ana Belén and Víctor Manuel, she carried out the El gusto es nuestro tour, which became one of the most popular and successful tours in Spain.

In 1997, to commemorate his thirty-five years in music, he toured Big Band Ríos in the company of a sixteen-piece big band, and toured Spain and Latin America. Later he resumed with Serrat and Víctor and Ana the tour El gusto es nuestro to travel to American lands, reaping great success. Later, an album of the same title was released, recorded during the tour in Spain. This same year, he founded his record label, Rock & amp; Ríos Records , to publish his records and those of other artists in Spanish. The first work of the new company is the double live album Big Band Ríos, from 1998. In 1999, the year in which the Ministry of Labor recognized his long professional career with the award of the Gold Medal for Merit at Work, records a tribute album to Kurt Weill with Ana Belén, Ana Belén, Miguel Ríos: they sing to Kurt Weill with a subsequent tour with the City of Granada Orchestra, to audiences all over the world country.

In the 21st century

Concert of his tour Road memoriesin 2009.

The XXI century receives Miguel with the recognition of the Andalusian record sector, which it grants him, within the Awards of the Music of Andalusia of that year, the Special Prize for the recognition of a musical career, awarded to him by two of the emerging figures of Andalusian music, Estrella Morente and Marina Heredia.

That same year, 2000, he was invited by Álex Lora, vocalist of the Mexican rock band El Tri, to sing a duet with him, the song Madre Tierra, from his album No podemos fly. Miguel had invited the band to play at the First Ibero-American Meeting in 1986. Also this year he participated in two tribute albums to Enrique Urquijo, Carlos Cano and Antonio Flores.

A year later, in 2001, he would publish Miguel Ríos and the Latin rock stars, an album of duets with artists such as Rosendo, Joaquín Sabina, Manolo García, Charly García, Fito Páez, Aterciopelados, Manna or El Tri. The album receives the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Music award for Best Rock Album, awards for which the song Corren tiempos perros and producer Carlos Narea are also nominated. In addition, he is nominated for a Latin Grammy for best rock singer of the year.

In November of that same year, he began a new tour that included the latest technology and incorporated a world first, by having collaborators represented by holograms. After receiving the Gold Medal of Andalusia on February 28 of the following year, he finished the tour in October after performing in the best theaters in Spain, Mexico and Venezuela. In the Zócalo of the Mexican capital he performs before 100,000 people in the framework of the International Festival of the Historic Center.

On April 10, 2003, he received, from the hands of José Saramago, the Honor Award of the Academy of Arts and Music Sciences for his career. That same year he returned to live in Granada and on June 6 he celebrated with the Granada Big Band the concert Vuelvo a granada for the benefit of the Cerebral Palsy Association in which Ana Belén, Víctor Manuel, Ketama, Raimundo Amador, Raúl Alcover, Marina Heredia and Balboa. On July 1, he receives the Medal of Honor from the Rodríguez-Acosta Foundation.

In 2004, to celebrate his sixty years, he published the album 60 mp3, dedicated to blues, which received the award for best rock album at the Music Awards in Spain. The guitarist John Parsons and the poet Luis García Montero collaborate on the album. The album, presented on a homonymous tour throughout Spain and some Latin American cities, won the Academy of Music award for Best Rock Album and the 2005 Canal Sur Radio Music Award. In that same year, and fulfilling one of his intimate wishes, Miguel performed at the Granada Jazz Festival together with the Granada Big Band and the American saxophonist Benny Golson. Also this year he participates in the collective project in homage to the centenary of the poet Pablo Neruda Neruda en el corazón .

In 2007, he received the Ondas Award in recognition of his entire career "for being a benchmark in the history of rock in Spain" and, during the first quarter, he directed and presented the program Buenas noches, welcome. The Miguel Ríos show which, over thirteen programs and based on music, sought to accommodate the rest of the arts, as well as open a window to civil society in Andalusia (it had the collaboration of the Ombudsman for Pueblo Andaluz), and serve as a support for scientific dissemination. In November of this year, he was named Granada's favorite son, a distinction granted by the Granada Provincial Council and given to him by Manuel Chaves, president of the Junta de Andalucía. In December he publishes the compilation 45 Essential Songs. Audiovisual Anthology that includes three CDs with songs selected by Miguel and a DVD with performances on television and concerts offered throughout his 45-year career.

In 2008 he presented his latest work, Alone or in the company of others, a retrospective with many collaborations, in which the new song "Memories of the road" stands out.

In 2009 he began his "Memories of the Road" tour, with which he announced that he planned to end his artistic career. The tour began at the Músicos en la Naturaleza Festival, on July 11 in the Sierra de Gredos, and should continue for about two years with performances in Spain and Latin America. In this same year, Warner has released a tribute album, entitled Bienvenidos, with songs from Miguel Ríos's career sung by other singers such as Serrat, Víctor Manuel, Ana Belén, Loquillo, Bunbury, Amaral, Chambao and M Clan.

In 2010 he began a farewell tour, which he called "Bye, bye Ríos", which began in Granada, his hometown, on September 17, 2010 and had his last concert in Spain exactly a year later, in Seville. After this, she began a mini-tour through various cities in Mexico where she performed several farewell concerts. Far from retiring as a professional musician, he offers his voice to sporadic collaborations and numerous charitable causes. In 2013 he participated in the biography & # 34; Maneras de vivir. Leño and the origin of urban rock" of Kike Babas and Kike Turrón, acting as master of ceremonies at the book presentation at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, together with the authors and the three members of Leño.

Miguel Ríos named Predilecto Son of Andalusia in 2014.

In 2014 the Junta de Andalucía honored him with the appointment of favorite son of this autonomous community. On May 20, 2016, at the proposal of the Council of the Department of History and Science of Music, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Granada in recognition of his extensive career and extraordinary contribution to universal music in relation to popular music. and urban, and more specifically to rock.

On July 7, 2017, Miguel Ríos takes the stage of the Palace of Carlos V of the Alhambra in Granada within the 66th International Music and Dance Festival together with Los Black Betty Boys and the City of Granada Orchestra directed by the Maestro Josep Pons. He rereads his most popular songbook and dresses him in the noble suit of a symphony orchestra. The performance is recorded and the album Symphonic Ríos is born. The CD is accompanied by a DVD that collects the images of the concert. Universal Music publishes it on March 16, 2018.

In 2021 Miguel Ríos announces a new album and his return to the stage with a tour that starts on June 19 in Marbella. For this tour, the singer performs with his band The Black Betty Trio.

On May 7, 2021, he publishes his latest studio album titled A long time. This is his first album with new songs thirteen years after the previous one and ten since he announced his unfulfilled withdrawal. & # 34; A job absolutely different from everything he has done so far, with high levels of creativity and dignity & # 34;, according to the critic that appeared in the magazine Efe Eme.

On January 8, 2022, Miguel Ríos was one of the singers participating in the solidarity concert Stronger than the volcano, which was organized by Radio Televisión Española in order to raise funds for those affected by the volcanic eruption of La Palma in 2021.

Discography

EP

• Mike Rios. The King of the Twist: "El twist", "Pera mature", "Twist de Saint-Tropez", "Landing tears" (1962)
• Mike Rios: "Twist of the watch", "Don't stay away from me", "El anillito", "Bristol" (1962)
• Mike Rios: Locomotion: "No, I don't want it", "Locomotion", "Twist of the World", "Let's go together" (1962)
• Mike Rios with the Lightning. Explosive!: "Stop the night", "Popotitos", "Hey baby madison", "Spanish twist" (1962)
• Mike Rios: "A strange voice", "The rebel", "An ocean separates us", "Ruby baby" (1963)
• Mike Rios"Do you want to dance?", "The rhythm of the rain," "A girl equal," "My dumb hand" (1963)
• Mike Rïos: "Pecosita", "Da-doo-ron-ron", "The arms on the cross", "A devil disguised" (1963)
• Mike Rios with Los Sonor"Oh, my Lord!", "There are so many girls," "Drip drop," "Bailando surfing" (1964)
• Canta Mike: "I don't ask for an excuse," "That's really sweet," "The tramp on the beach," "Your name" (1964)
• Miguel Ríos: Serenata under the sun: "Serenade under the sun", "I can see it", "Go back with me", "Dam dam" (1964)
• Miguel Ríos: "Consejos de amor", "City of love", "Faring from me", "I have asked my heart" (1965)
• Miguel Ríos: "Yesterday", "I cannot", "Melody chained", "The Story of Three Red Roses" (1965)
• Songs of the film Hamelín: "Where", "Linda Chica", "You will pay", "My illusion of living" (1967)

Simple

• "You do have an angel" / "Away from you" (1965)
• "Now that I'm back" / "Brothers" (1966)
• "The Guitar" / "Antimusical" (1966)
• "The Guitar" / "Germans" (1966)
• "Caperucita ye-yé" parts 1 & 2 (with Marta Baizan, Mari Carmen Goñi and Los Impala, 1966)
• "The river" / "I return to Granada" (1968)
• "I'm just a man" / "The cartel" (1969)
• "With the crystal" / "You don't know how I suffered" (1969)
• "Himno to Joy" / "Look at You" (1969)
• "Despite" / "The Rock of Prison" (1970)
• "Like the wind" / "She left" (1970)
• "The Refuge" / "I believe in you" (1971)
• "Songs" (1972)
• "In case you need" (1974)
• "A atomic nap" (1976)
• "Al-Andalus" (1977)
• "King of Rock" / "A horse called death" (1979)
• "The old rockers nnca die" / "Rocker at night" (1980)
• "New Wave (the pink neon)" / Lua Lua, Lua (1980)
• "Saint Lucia" / "The Labyrinth" (1980)
• "Rocanrol Bumerang" (1980)
• "Playing to Live" (1981)
• "Get out of you" (1981)
• "Year 2000" (1981)
• "Banzai" (1982)
• "Welcome" / "Saint Lucia" (1982)
• "The blues of the bus" / "Queen of the night" (1982)
• "The Rock of a Summer Night" / "Robot Portrait" (1983)
• "You're not alone" / "Antinuclear" (1983)
• "Everything in the lung" / "Kerosene Queen" (1984)
• "Rock on the Road" / "The Crossroads" (1985)
• "The Wall of Fund" (1986)
• "What a night of that year!" (1987)
• "While the Watering Body" (1989)
• "Direct to the heart" / "Free" (in the middle of the night) (1991)
• "In the park" (1992)
• "So 30 years pass" (1992)
• "I'm not on train" (1996)
• "Macki el Navaja" (1998)
• "La Lluna de Alabama" (1999)
• "Insurreccón" (2001)
• "Aves de paso" (2001)
• 60 Reasons (2004)
• "Memories of the Road" (2008)
• "Bye Rios" (2010)
• "The Blues of the Third Age" (2020)
• “The Stretcher of Cain” (2020)

Albums

Study

• Look at you. (1969)
• Wake up. (1970)
• United States (1971)
• Memories of a human being (1974)
• The atomic garden (1976)
• Al-Andalus (1977)
• Old rockers never die (1979)
• Rocanrol bumerang (1980)
• Strange in the window (1981)
• The rock of a summer night (1983)
• The crossroads (1984)
• The year of the comet (1986)
• Miguel Ríos (1989)
• Direct to the heart (1991)
• Like it was the first time (1996)
• 60 mp3 (2004)
• Only or in the company of others (2008)
• A long time (2021)[1]

Direct

• Rock and Love Concerts (1972)
• Rock & Rios (1982)
• What a night that year! (1987)
• What a night that year! 2 (1987)
• Big Band Rios (1998)
• Bye Rios (2010)
• Symphonic Rios (1CD + DVD) (2018)

Compilations

• Miguel Ríos (1969)
• Great successes of Miguel Rios (1970)
• Miguel Ríos: Éxitos (1973)
• Balances (1982)
• Rock forever (1982)
• Songs of an era (1982)
• Rock on the road (1985)
• So thirty years pass (1992)
• Forever (1995)
• Songs of love for difficult times (1995)
• Mike Rios: his best EP, Volume 1 (1998)
• Miguel Ríos (1999)
• Mike/Miguel Rios, Volume 2. All your EPs (2000)
• Miguel Rios and the Latin rock stars (2001)
• Back to Granada (2003)
• 45 essential songs. Audiovisual anthology (3 CD + DVD) (2007)

Collaborations

• The taste is ours (1996) with Ana Belén, Víctor Manuel and Joan Manuel Serrat
• Ana Belén, Miguel Rios: They sing Kurt Weill (1999)
• To my 30-year-olds (1999)
• Neruda in the heart (2004)
• Underground (2009)
• Well Accompanied (2011) I sleep with Reyli Barba on the theme "From Night to Morning"
• "dirty game", Waiting time, the MADISON (2012)
• "In Granada it is possible"(2014)
• The taste is our 20 years (2 CD + DVD) with Ana Belén, Víctor Manuel and Joan Manuel Serrat (2016)

Awards and distinctions

• Silver frames to the best musical activity (1980).
• Ondas Award for the Program What a night that year! (1987).
• Gold Medal of the City of Granada (1987).
• Gold Medal to Merit in Fine Arts (1993).
• Gold Medal to Merit in the Work of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (1999).
• Andalusian Music Awards: Special Prize for the Recognition of a Musical Path (2000).
• Award of the Academy of Arts and Music Sciences for Best Rock Album Miguel Rios and the Latin rock stars (2001).
• Andalusian Gold Medal (2002).
• Award of Honor of the Academy of Arts and Music Sciences for its career (2003).
• Medalla de Honor de la Fundación Rodríguez-Acosta (2003).
• Academy of Music Awards: Award for Best Rock Disc by Miguel Ríos 60 mp3 (2004).
• Music Award 2005 by Canal Sur Radio for Miguel Ríos 60 mp3 (2004).
• Ondas Award in recognition of his entire career (2007).
• Latin Grammy Awards to Excellence and in recognition of your entire career (2013).
• Son Predilecto de Andalucía (2014).
• Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Granada (2016).
• Doctor Honoris Causa by Universidad Miguel Hernández (2018).