Edgar Ricardo Arjona Morales (born 19 January 1964), known as Ricardo Arjona (), is a Guatemalan singer and songwriter. He is one of the most successful and best-selling Latin American artists of all time, with more than 20 million records sold. His music ranges from ballads to Latin pop, rock, pop rock, Cuban music, and more recently a cappella performances and a mixture of Tejano music and Norteño music, and Latin sounds. Arjona is noted for his lyrical style, and often addresses topics such as love, sexuality, violence, racism and immigration.
As of 2016, Arjona had released sixteen studio albums, one live album, nine compilation albums and forty-three singles. Four Arjona albums reached number one on the Billboard Top Latin Albums, and ten reached number one in Argentina. Four albums had charted on the Billboard 200. Four singles had reached number one on the Billboard Latin Songs chart and seven had done the same on Latin Pop Songs. His work earned him numerous awards and accolades, including one Grammy Award, one Latin Grammy Award, the Latin Heritage Award as well as awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers; a silver and golden torch and two silver seagulls from the 2010 Viña del Mar International Song Festival, two Billboard Latin Music Awards, and a "Latin Trajectory of the Year" Award at the Orgullosamente Latino Awards of 2010.
Early life
Edgar Ricardo Arjona Morales was born on 19 January 1964, in Jocotenango, Guatemala, to parents Ricardo Arjona Moscoso and Mimi Morales de Arjona. He spent most of his childhood in Guatemala City, where he began his musical instruction. At age twelve, he participated in the contest "Festival Infantil Juventud 74" with "Gracias al Mundo", a song composed by his father, finally winning the event. Although he initially enrolled in architecture and engineering at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC), he graduated with a degree from the School of Communication Sciences.
Sports career
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Arjona was a talented basketball player who played for Leones de Marte and TRIAS. He toured Central America as a member of the Guatemala national basketball team. Until 2005, he held the record for the most points scored (79) in a single game by a Guatemalan. He also taught at a primary school (called Santa Elena III), This earned him a visit from a Ministry of Education representative, who was sent to evaluate his pupils. The representative found that the students' education was actually above average. and distributed by PolyGram, and released his debut album Déjame Decir Que Te Amo in 1985. The label attempted to portray Arjona as a stereotypical Latin lover. The title track was released as a single, "Déjame Decir Que Te Amo". This album failed to chart, but received moderate praise from critics, with Allmusic awarding it three stars out of five. Because of his negative experience recording the album and its commercial failure, he decided to abandon music to teach school. He later covered the song in his compilation album, Trópico (2009), alongside Melina León. Animal Nocturno, Arjona's fourth studio album, was released in 1993. The album contained the hit singles "Mujeres" (No. 6 on Latin Songs) and "Primera Vez" (No. 6 on Latin Songs) Animal Nocturno sold 500,000 copies in 1994, and carried Arjona to fame along with his work on the Mexican telenovela Alcanzar Una Estrella, which allowed him to showcase his songwriting and singing skills. His fourth and fifth studio albums were the best-selling of his career.
In 1996, he released his sixth studio album, Si El Norte Fuera El Sur. This was the first album in which Arjona ventured beyond the theme of love to explore nationalism and globalization, among other sociopolitical topics. Its four singles were "Si El Norte Fuera El Sur" (No. 9 on Latin Pop Songs), Billboard named it the Rock Album of the Year in 1997. Si El Norte Fuera El Sur received multiple Platinum certifications in the United States and Argentina.
In 1998, he released his seventh studio album, Sin Daños a Terceros. Terry Jenkins from Allmusic, on his review of the album, awarded it 4 stars, writing that "Sin Daños a Terceros continues Ricardo Arjona's streak of accomplished, affecting albums that spotlights both his melodic skills and his sharp social consciousness." His fourth consecutive album to receive critical success, Sin Daños a Terceros also enjoyed commercial success, debuting at No. 6 on Top Latin Albums, the first to reach the top 10,
2000–2005: Galería Caribe, world tour, Santo Pecado, hiatus and Adentro
Arjona's eighth studio album, Galería Caribe was preceded by the single "Cuándo", which became a commercial success and reached No. 1 on both Top Latin Songs and Latin Pop Songs. The album became his first to chart on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 136, while charting at No. 1 on Top Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums. Argentina
thumb|left|upright|Fans and critics noted connections between the lyrics of "Mesías" and the [[September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, resulting in an FBI investigation.]]