CHAYANNE

'Elmer Figueroa Arce' (born June 28 1968 in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico), best known under the stage name 'Chayanne', is a Puerto Rican Latin pop singer. He is one of Puerto Rico's most successful pop stars, selling over 10 million records worldwide, and having nine number one singles in the United States.
His artistic name come from a western television series “Cheyenne" that his mother use to nickname it. The TV series “Cheyenne“ was transmitted from 1955 to 1963 and was starred by Clint Walker.

Contents

Biography

Early Life

Career with Los Chicos

Solo Artist

Acting Career

English-language roles

Personal Life

Discography

Trivia

External links

See also

Biography

Early Life

Elmer Figueroa Arce was born in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico to Quintino Figueroa, a sales manager, and Irma Luz Arce, a teacher. When he was still a baby, his family moved to San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico. He has four siblings: Clara, Kenny, Noel and Elliot. He began using the artistic name of "Chayanne" when he was a little kid.

Career with Los Chicos

:''Main article: Los Chicos''
In the late 70s, he auditioned for Menudo, but was told at the time that he was too little for that group. He didn't give up and he heard they were trying to create a new group that would compete with Menudo, and so he went and tried out, along with his sister, Clara. In 1978, he was chosen for the group and his rise to fame began.
That group, Los Chicos, made several #1 hits, including "Puerto Rico Son Los Chicos" and the ''Ave María''. Chayanne's performance stood out thanks to his vocals, dancing capabilities and strong charisma. While the group never was as popular as Menudo, it did give Menudo good competition, becoming famous all over Latin America, participating in a movie (Conexión Caribe), and producing millions of Los Chicos-related memorabilia like t-shirts, rulers, magazines etc.

Solo Artist

After Los Chicos separated in 1984, Chayanne began his career as a solo artist. He signed with RCA Ariola and released his first album, ''Chayanne es mi Nombre'', that year. He enjoyed modest success in Central America but nothing too big. His second album with RCA, ''Sangre Latina'' was released in 1986.
In 1988, Chayanne switched labels to Sony Music and released the eponymous album, ''Chayanne''. This album included several hit singles that propelled him to stardom, such as Honorio Herrero's "Tu Pirata Soy Yo", José María Cano's "Fuiste un Trozo de Hielo en la Escarcha" and "Este Ritmo Se Baila Así", composed by Pierre-Edouard Decimus, Jacob Desvarieux and Roberto Livi. At the same time, Chayanne became a spokesperson for Pepsi, with the airing of the first Spanish speaking advertising spot broadcasted on national television coast to coast during the 1989 Grammy Awards telecast.
His fourth album, released in 1989 included the hits "Fiesta en América", composed by Honorio Herrero and the ballad "Peligro de Amor", composed by Paulo Massadas and Michael Sullivan. He received his first Grammy nomination for "Fiesta en América".
In 1990 he released the album which many fans consider as his best: ''Tiempo de Vals'', featuring some of his best-selling singles such as the title track, composed by José María Cano, "Completamente Enamorados", composed by Piero Cassano, Adelio Cogliati and Eros Ramazzotti and "Daría Cualquier Cosa", composed by Luis Gómez Escolar and Julio Seijas. He followed it with the album
''Influencias'' (1994), which was a tribute to some of his musical influences. In 1996, he remade his style and released ''Volver a Nacer''.
In 1998, he received his second Grammy nomination with the album ''Atado a Tu Amor''. He has continued to enjoy success with his recent albums and has received several awards throughout his career. In 2005, he did a tour along with Mexican Alejandro Fernández and fellow Puerto Rican Marc Anthony.
Chayanne’s 13th album '''Mi Tiempo''' was released on April of 2007. The album debuted at No. 2 on the Top Latin Album chart selling 17,000 copies in its first week of release. The first single off the album ''"Si Nos Quedará Poco Tiempo"'' reached No. 1 on the Hot Latin Tracks chart.

Acting Career

In the 1980s, Chayanne participated in several soap operas and starred in the comedy series ''"Generaciones"'' with Luis Antonio Rivera. More recently, he has received several offers for acting jobs, but he has declined most of them for conflicting with his musical career , which he considers his priority.
In 1994 he played himself in ''Volver a empezar'' along with Yuri. That same year, he also starred in ''Linda Sara'' opposite former Puerto Rican Miss Universe, Dayanara Torres. The film was written and directed by famous Puerto Rican Jacobo Morales. More recently he has starred in other projects like the Argentinian soap opera ''Provócame'', for which he made the soundtrack of the same name.

English-language roles

In 1998, he starred in his first Hollywood role, playing a Cuban dancer along with Vanessa L. Williams in ''Dance with Me''. He also made a guest appearance on ''Ally McBeal''.

Personal Life

Chayanne has been married to model and attorney, Marilisa Maronesse, a native of Venezuela, since 1992. They have two children - Lorenzo Valentino (b. 1997) and Isadora Sofía (b. December 10 2000). They currently live in Miami, Florida. He rarely comments about his personal life.
In 2004, Chayanne's mother, Irma Luz Arce, was diagnosed with cancer. This has prompted him to get involved with international charity groups related to that illness. He has participated in several charity golf tournaments to raise money for cancer research and treatment.
On May 8, 2007, a rumor was spread on Puerto Rico's news media, regarding Chayanne's intentions of running for Governor of Puerto Rico in 2008. However Chayanne expressed that he was not interested in running for Governor and the rumor was a bad joke.

Discography

Trivia

★ Chayanne appeared on the first cover of ''Open''.

★ A highway that connects San Lorenzo (where Chayanne was raised) with nearby Gurabo, "PR-203", is named after him.

External links

★ Chayanne bio/IMDb

★ Official Website

★ La Isla de Chayanne

★ Casa Chayanne

★ The Chayanne Fan Site

★ Chayanne denies rumors of running for Governor of Puerto Rico (Spanish text)

★ Videoclips and Concerts of Chayanne

See also

★ List of famous Puerto Ricans

★ Luis Antonio Rivera