Thalía
Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda (Spanish pronunciation: [aˈɾjaðna taˈli.a ˈsoði miˈɾanda]; born 26 August 1971), known mononymously as Thalía, is a Mexican singer and actress.[1] Referred to as the "Queen of Latin Pop",[2] she is considered one of the most successful and influential Mexican artists.[3][4][5] Having sold around 20 million records worldwide, she is one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all time.[6] Aside from her native Spanish, Thalía has also sung in English, French, Portuguese and Tagalog.[7]
For other uses of "Thalia", see Thalia (disambiguation).
Thalía
- Thalía Sodi
- Lady T
- Mexico (1971–present)
- United States (2006–present)
- Singer
- actress
- businesswoman
- 1981–present (singer)
- 1986–present (actress)
2
Paulina Rubia Sodi Miranda (half-sister)
Camila Sodi (niece)
She has received numerous accolades, including five Billboard Latin Music Awards, eight Lo Nuestro Awards, as well as seven Latin Grammy Award nominations[8] and their special "President's Merit Award" in 2019.[9] She has collaborated with multiple artists, such as Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé, Robbie Williams, Marc Anthony, Laura Pausini, Romeo Santos, Maluma, Fat Joe, and Carlos Vives.
As an actress, Thalía starred in a variety of successful telenovelas that aired in over 180 countries with an estimated audience of 2 billion people according to UNICEF,[10][11] which led to her being referred to as the "Queen of Telenovelas" by the mass media.[12] The global impact of her novelas helped her to popularize her music in non-Spanish speaking territories and markets in Europe and Asia. The Mexican media company Televisa has named her the best-paid telenovela actress in history,[13][14] while Billboard names her the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world.[15]
Considered a Latin pop icon,[16] Thalía was included among Billboard's Greatest Latin Artists of All Time in 2020 and People En Español's 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time in 2008.[17][18] On 5 December 2013, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition for her achievements in the music industry.[19][20] As a businesswoman, Thalía enjoyed success with a fashion brand (having signed a deal with Macy's), as well she had her own nationally syndicated radio show and is the author of four books, including her memoir. During her career, Thalía has been involved in humanitarian causes and is an UNICEF Mexico Ambassador since 2016.[21]
Early life[edit]
Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda was born on 26 August 1971 in Mexico City. She is the youngest of five daughters of Yolanda Miranda Mange (d. 2011), a painter who was Thalía's manager from 1980 to 1999 and Ernesto Sodi Pallares (d. 1977), a scientist, doctor of pathology, criminologist and writer. Her father's paternal grandfather, who was born in Florence, Italy, emigrated to Mexico during the Italian diaspora. Her four sisters are Laura Zapata (daughter of Guillermo Zapata Pérez de Utrera), Federica, Gabriela and Ernestina Sodi.
When she turned one, Thalía appeared in her first TV commercial in Mexico. At the age of four, she began taking ballet and piano classes at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música (Mexico).[22] Her father suffered from diabetes and died in 1977 when Thalía was six years old.
Years later, Thalía admitted publicly that her father's death had traumatized her drastically, since she had lost her voice for a whole year. This led to her being diagnosed with childhood disintegrative disorder (CDH), which belongs to a series of developmental disorders related to autism spectrum.[23] She has said that she had psychological therapy for few years.[24][25] She has reportedly mentioned that she was a victim of bullying as a child because of the loss of her father.[26]
Thalía attended Lycée Franco-Mexicain elementary school, where she learned to speak French fluently at a very young age.[27] In 1976, a year before her father's death, she had a guest appearance in the Mexican film La guerra de los pasteles ("War of Cakes"), although her name doesn't appear in the film credits.[28]
Music career[edit]
1981–1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era[edit]
In 1981, when Thalía was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play like we're singing"), a TV program by Televisa.[29] Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalía performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En acción, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded.[30][31][32][33]
After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalía participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna niña del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sökol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubín, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalía obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche.
In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sökol from Timbiriche, Thalía became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In 1987, she made her TV acting debut in an episode of the telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour.[34] In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceañera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalía was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz.[35] The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalía was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988".[36]
With Timbiriche, Thalía recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clásicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra.[37] In 1989, Thalía departed from Timbiriche.[38] In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role.[39] Some time later she visited Los Angeles to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist.
1990–1993: First albums as a solo artist[edit]
In 1990, Thalía returned to Mexico and released her first studio album as a solo artist, self-titled Thalía, which was produced by Alfredo Díaz Ordaz, and published by Fonovisa, Televisa's record label. From that album, she released a total of four singles that became radio hits: "Amarillo Azul", "Pienso en Ti", "Un Pacto Entre los Dos" and "Saliva". The last two tracks were co-written by her and Díaz Ordaz and they were considered as provocative at the time ("Un Pacto Entre Los Dos" was even labeled as a song with occult Satan-worship lyrics by various far-right parties).[40][41]
In September 1991, Thalía released her second studio album, Mundo de cristal, which marks Thalía's last project in collaboration with Alfredo Díaz Ordaz. Four songs became radio singles from the album, and all of them had big radio impact in Mexico. Due to the success of the singles, the album was certified as double gold in Thalía's native country, Mexico. In the same year, Thalía was co-presenter of the late Spanish show VIP Noche, along with Spanish presenter Emilio Aragón, produced by Telecinco.[42]
In October 1992, she released her third studio album and her last under the same label, entitled Love, which was recorded in Spain and was produced by Luis Carlos Esteban. The album spread six singles, that had huge radio impact: "Sangre", "Love", "María Mercedes" (official theme of the TV series), "No Trates de Engañarme", "Flor de Juventud", and "La Vida en Rosa" (La vie en rose), the last one being a Spanish-French cover of the classic French song originally performed by Edith Piaf. Thalía wrote the song "Sangre" inspired in Díaz Ordaz, with whom she had broken up her sentimental relation. The album was praised by the critics, as it was an artistic evolution for Thalía, who experimented for the first time in different music genres, especially electronic music. The album reached number 15 on Billboard's Latin Pop Albums in 1993.[43] In Mexico, it sold over 200,000 copies in the first month upon its release and very soon it reached the platinum and gold certification, while it was a commercial success all over Latin America. Thalia got the opportunity to be on stage with Michael Jackson during the Dangerous World Tour in all the Mexico City concerts.
Acting career[edit]
Thalia was cast in a supporting role in the 1986 telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour with which she began her collaboration with Televisa, the largest mass media company in the Spanish-speaking world. In 1987, she went on to star in her first major role for Televisa in the 1987 teenage drama series Quinceañera, along with Mexican actress Adela Noriega. Quinceañera won the TV y Novelas award for Best Telenovela of the Year 1988. In 1989, she got her first lead role in Luz y Sombra, which was less successful.
In 1992, Thalía shot to fame starring in María Mercedes, for which she won a TV Y Novelas Award for Best Young Actress in 1993. This series was her first of three telenovelas later called Las Tres Marias ("The Three Marías") for sharing the character name. Marimar began in 1994 and Maria la del Barrio in 1995. The third was the most commercially successful of her career and it remains her most iconic role, while Marimar is considered by some critics the best telenovela of all time.[95][96] In 1999, Thalía starred in her last telenovela, "Rosalinda". All four telenovelas were basically based on the same rags to riches character.[97]
With these telenovelas, Thalía became famous worldwide because of the extremely high ratings they achieved in more than 180 countries (especially the Philippines).[98]
Although Thalía's presence in television is legendary, her presence in cinema is less important. She appeared for the first time in a movie when she was still a child in the 1979 film La Guerra De los Pasteles ("The War of the Cakes"). Furthermore, in 1999, she starred in Mambo Café, a modest indie film production that had a poor reception from critics.
Influences[edit]
According to Thalia herself, her major personal influence was her mother, who was a motivating manager for Thalia from the very beginning of her career until 2000.[144] As for her artistic influences, Thalia's work is mostly influenced by Celine Dion, Donna Summer, Gloria Estefan, Sade, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, The Doors, and Kylie Minogue,[76] while she has stated that she always admired Marilyn Monroe and Madonna. Thalia's first idol, according to her, was athlete Nadia Comăneci. She has even stated that her record-breaking performance was a huge motivation for her to follow a career in entertainment.
Studio albums