B I O G R A P H Y

Thalía's complete name is Thalía Ariadna Sodi Miranda. She was born on a 26th of August in the Spanish Hospital in Mexico City, to a happy and well-to-do Mexican family, being the fifth and last child. Her oldest sister, Laura Zapata, is also a famous actress in Mexico. Only a year old, she already appeared on television in a soft drink advertisement. Her father was a chemist and criminologist; she lost him when she was only five years old. That signified a hard blow for the child, who spoke hardly a word for an entire year. Of her four sisters besides the actress Laura, Federica is an archaeologist, Ernestina, an ex-Miss Mexico City, is a writer and has a doctorate in Philosophy and Letters, and Gabriela is an art historian. Thalía attended primary school at the Liceo Franco Mexicano, she participated in different children's programs, drawing contests, and she also practiced classic ballet and gymnastics.

Her artistic career really began in 1981 when she attended a song festival with the children's group Pac-Man. Then the group changed its name to Din-Din and they recorded a total of four records. In 1984 she joined the musical play Vaselina (the Spanish version of Grease), first as a backup singer, then realizing Sandy’s role, with the group Timbiriche, which later became one of the most popular youth groups in Mexico. In 1986 she became a member of Timbiriche, occupying the vacant space of a girl who left the group. The same year she also debuted as an actress, playing the part of Dina in the telenovela La Pobre Señorita Limantour (The Poor Miss Limantour). In 1987 she achieved tremendous success with Timbiriche, recording four albums, among which are found some of her greatest hits, accompanied by the Philharmonic Orchestra. She appeared more and more in magazines, she was also winner of a contest for the best body. At the end of 1987 to the beginning of 1988 she acted in the series Quinceañera (The 15-Year Old Girl), sharing the leading role with Adela Noriega. In 1989 she obtained her first starring role in the telenovela Luz y Sombra (Light and Shadow). She left the group Timbiriche, and learned to play the bass and the piano.

In January 1990 she traveled to the United States for a year. At the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) she learned the English language, took classes in singing, piano, bass, physical culture, jazz and modern dance, acting, diction, esthetics and dance. She also learned to play the saxophone. With a renovated image and criticized by many, she returned to Mexico, launching her first record carrying her name, which she accomplished with Alfredo Díaz Ordaz, who was her first and greatest love. Her introductory album, which received much criticism following the tradition of Timbiriche, represented the pop-rock style. Her second album came out in 1991, named Mundo de Cristal (A World of Glass). Thalía participated in several music festivals with the album. In 1992 came her third solo album entitled Love, which she recorded in Spain. She dedicated herself to making a trilogy whose main character was a poor girl named María. As the first part of the trilogy she filmed María Mercedes. At the end of the following year they began filming Marimar, the second and most popular telenovela of the trilogy. During this time she received the sad news of the death of her boyfriend, so it was that the tears in the telenovela became real. After this blow, she did not even want to fall in love for a while and locked her engagement ring in a safe deposit box. In 1995, after a three-year pause, she began to dedicate herself more seriously to her music and her international career. She signed a contract with the international record label EMI. With the aid of celebrated producers such as Emilio Estefan (husband of the famous Cuban singer Gloria Estefan) and Óscar López, she prepared her fourth record, En éxtasis, her first record for EMI, which opened the way toward the true international. Changing record companies also signified a total change in style for the Latin pop singer. The album has been sold in every country of Latin America and even in the United States, in total more than a million copies, then arriving also to some parts of Europe, and has been recognized with multiple gold and platinum records. At the same time she began to film her third TV series of the trilogy, María la del Barrio (Maria from the Neighborhood).

In February of 1996, due to the excess of work and stress, her system suffered from complete exhaustion, and due to a cardiac arrhythmia, by advice of her doctors she retired from the filming to her house in Los Angeles to take two weeks of rest. During her recuperation she received a visit from a good friend, in the person of the popular Spanish singer, Julio Iglesias. In the Philippines she enjoyed such an enormous popularity that in the year 1997 she gave the Asian country an extraordinary record titled Nandito Ako (I Am Here to Love You), in which are found among other songs some of her hits in the official language of the country, Tagalog, and English, and also a Spanish remix. She traveled to the Philippines for the release of the record, where she received the keys to the city of Quezon and was named an honorary citizen. Meanwhile on the American continent, she won other gold and platinum records for the sales of En éxtasis. They proclaimed the 25th of April as "Thalía's Day" in Los Angles, USA. Continuing the successes, she prepared her new record, Amor a la Mexicana, in which returning to her Latin roots, there are hot rhythms with a Mexican-Cuban flavor in the lead role. The album is like a tribute by Thalía to the love, which she receives from her fans. In the Wax Museum of Mexico City, they unveiled her statue in life size. Meanwhile, EMI re-edited En éxtasis. This credited her with new gold and platinum records for her latest recording works. Amor a la Mexicana was released in many parts of the world, achieving more than 3 million copies sold, for which Thalía became deserving of a diamond record. In 1998 she participated in the Mardi Gras Carnaval at Rio de Janeiro. She obtained the lead role in the Hollywood comedy Mambo Café, creating the character of Nydia, a Puerto Rican student. In the United States her colleague and great friend Emilio Estefan organized a meeting where she was introduced to the divorced Tommy Mottola, owner of Sony Music and ex-husband of Mariah Carey. In 1999 she filmed her last telenovela, Rosalinda, which, though in her homeland it has not reached the popularity expected, broke audience records in numerous countries of the world, among others Hungary. With Emilio Estefan and Kike Santander she recorded "Ay, amor", the famous theme song of the same. When the telenovela was finished, she retired in order to rest and prepare herself for her new pop record.

In the first half of the year 2000 she was in New York recording her seventh album, Arrasando, with Emilio Estefan, which included twelve songs, eight of which were her own compositions. Advancing with the times, this album, which also mixed modern rhythms (dance, pop, rap) with Latin flavor and, interpreting different musical styles, revealed the versatility of the singer. Arrasando, on the second day of its Mexican release, had already sold 100,000 copies; her first single, named "Entre el Mar y una Estrella" (Between the Sea and a Star), obtained first place on Billboard in the category of Hot Latin Tracks. In Spain the album earned a platinum record only a month after its debut in that country. In September, Thalía also visited Hungary as part of her promotional tour. On December 2nd she said yes to Mr. Thomas Daniel Mottola in the New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral, which encompassed a very luxurious ceremony. In 2001 she was nominated for her record Arrasando and won a Lo Nuestro (Our Things) award in the category of "People's Prize", and was the first artist to whom an innovative award from Billboard Awards for Latin Music was given, the "Star Award". Sales of the album have exceeded two million copies on the international level. On May 5th – a Mexican National Holiday – the President of the United States, George W. Bush, invited her to a party organized at the White House, and she interpreted a potpourri of popular Mexican songs with a Mexican mariachi orchestra. Expressing her love of her country Mexico, she prepared a special release from her three previous record productions, which included her greatest hits to the musical accompaniment of classic Mexican "banda". This record earned a gold record in Mexico within a few days of its release, as well as being nominated in two categories at the second Latin Grammy Awards, which gala was cancelled due to the lamentable terrorist attacks which were suffered by the United States. Arrasando received a Latin Grammy in the category of "Best Recording Engineering for an Album", and her video was nominated for the Latin Grammy as best video of the year. In 2002, she and her banda record were nominated and won two Lo Nuestro prizes, in the categories of "Best Female Singer – Regional Mexican" and the "Premio del Pueblo – Regional Mexican". She launched her eyeglasses line in New York. On May she launched her 9th record, named Thalía, in which she returned a bit to the rocker roots of her initial soloist career. In the record there are celebrated producers involved, like those of Jennifer López, Marc Anthony, Destiny’s Child, etc. The album and its first single, "Tú y Yo" (You and I), led the Billboard lists for several weeks and won a platinum record in the USA. For the first time in her career, she was invited to a US TV show, that of Rosie O'Donnell, where she performed an English song, "Closer to You" from her new album. On September 18 she participated at 3rd Latin Grammy Awards and sang live a salsa-ballad medley of her latest hit, "No me enseñaste" (You Didn't Teach Me), making a fantastic performance. In September her family was living a nightmare, as the news said her two sisters, actress Laura Zapata and writer Ernestina Sodi, had been kidnapped when leaving a theater in Mexico City. The kidnappers initially required more than 5 million US dollars for their liberation. Thalía canceled all her commitments and promotions and asked her fans through her official website to pray for the liberation of her sisters. After 18 days Laura was freed, but Ernestina had to suffer 34 days locked up. Fortunately both came out healthy and intact from the hand of kidnappers, only the psychic trauma was great. Buen Hogar (Good Housekeeping in Spanish) magazine made a special supplement edited completely by Thalía, while a 2003 calendar dedicated to her was launched. In the last month of the year she filmed the video of a well-known 80's hit "A quién le importa," which caused much controversy in the media and was censored in some South American countries for showing lesbian scenes. She signed a contract with popular commercial network K-Mart to launch a line of different products, such as contemporary fashions and accessories, under her name.

In 2003 she participated at the Lo Nuestro awards gala, winning the "People's Choice" award for the second time, which she dedicated to her freed sisters. By the end of February, EMI Music released a record with the remixes of her greatest songs, also including "It's My Party", the English language version of her hit "Arrasando", and as a bonus track, the video of "A quién le importa". In May of 2003, Thalía prepared the video of the song "I Want You", which was to be the initial hit released from her first album in the English language. The popular rapper, Joseph Cartagena, better known by his artistic name "Fat Joe", participated in the song with her. At the celebration of the Billboard Awards for Latin Music, which took place in Miami, Thalía received the trophy for Best Latin Pop Album of the Year (female category) for her self-titled CD in Spanish, and at the same time she took the Audience Award for the same category. In July, she released her most awaited album, her first record in English, entitled – once more – simply Thalía, in which, differing from the accustomed Latin music, she included true pop music in the American style with touches of R&B. The new record and its first single, "I Want You" rose to high positions on charts in many places around the world, although in the United States it did not achieve the expected sales and popularity. In Hungary, the song has reached 4th place on VIVA Chart Show, the "top 40" of the most popular music television chain, VIVA TV. In August, Thalía appeared in Bryant Park in New York City, singing her songs live and also with guest star Fat Joe, as part of a concert series for the show Good Morning America. The same month, she launched her own designer collection which includes clothing, shoes and women’s accessories, among other articles, to be sold by K-Mart, the US chain of stores. The celebration, also including a fashion show, was broadcast as Thalía's Grand Night by the popular US Spanish language channel Univision.

Source: Club Mundo de Cristal Hungary