Daughter of Mexican actress Susana Dosamantes, Rubio was born in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. Her music is popular in Latin America, Spain, and the United States. English-speakers may recognize her from her 2002 hit single Don't Say Goodbye. Paulina Rubio has sold over 16 million albums worldwide.
Paulina Rubio released her latest album Ananda on September 19th, 2006 in th U.S. and on the 18th worldwide. It reached the #1 spot on many charts in countries all over Latin America, the U.S., and Spain. It reached #25 on U.S. Billboard's "Billboard Hot 200" albums chart, and it reached the #1 spot on Billboards "Top Latin Albums." Ni Una Sola Palabra has reached the #1 spot on radio in many Latin American countries, as well as the U.S. and Spain. It reached #1 on U.S. Billboard's "Hot Latin Tracks." Paulina Rubio's last three Spanish language albums have all consecutively peaked at the #1 spot on Billboard's "Top Latin Albums" chart.
Pre-solo career
Paulina Rubio is the older of two siblings. She has a younger brother named Enrique. At age 5, Paulina was taking singing, acting, jazz, painting, and dance lessons while enrolled at what is now the Centro de Educación ArtÃstica (CEA) in Mexico. After two years of being there, Pedro Damián and Martha Zavaleta contacted Paulina's parents for their approval in Paulina joining a band that would be formed by children from the center.
On April 30, 1982, she began her career when she was ten years old, under the guidance of Miguel Bose and debuting in a children's pop group called Timbiriche. The original band had 7 members: Alix Bauer, Benny Ibarra, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza, Paulina Rubio, Sasha Sökol, and Erick Rubin (who joined a year later). Rubio recorded a total of 11 albums as part of Timbiriche. In 1985, Timbiriche participated in the musical Vaselina (Spanish adaptation of the American musical Grease). While in Timbiriche, Rubio also turned to acting in telenovelas with Televisa. She landed her first role in 1988, as the villain Paulina Montenegro in Pasión y Poder (Passion and Power). In 1992, she also starred in Baila Conmigo as Andrea, one of the biggest telenovelas of that year. Two soundtracks, Baila Conmigo and Recuerdos de Baila Conmigo, were released. Many members of the popular soap opera made many television performances on Siempre en Domingo, among other TV programs.
EMI: The Golden Years
In 1991, Rubio left Timbiriche and focused on launching a solo career. She traveled to Spain to begin work on her first project as a solo artist. In 1992, she released her solo debut album, La Chica Dorada (The Golden Girl) under the EMI Latin record label. The album's title stuck and to this day Paulina is known as "la chica dorada" or "the golden girl" in Latin America. The album's first single "MÃo" (Mine) quickly became one of her trademark songs. La Chica Dorada was certified Diamond in 1997, and she was presented with an award during her promotion of Planeta Paulina on Veronica Castro's extinct music show, La Tocada. After many reissues in countries like Mexico, USA, and Spain, the album "La Chica Dorada" has gone on to sell more than 1.2 million copies worldwide.
In 1993, she released 24 Kilates (24 Karats), which sold more than 150,000 copies in just three weeks after its release. In 1995, El Tiempo Es Oro (Time Is Gold) was released. It included the hit Te DarÃa Mi Vida (I Would Die For You) and the theme song to the 1994 Mexican film Besame En La Boca (Kiss Me), which starred Paulina Rubio. In 1996, she released her last album with the EMI Latin record label, Planeta Paulina, which included the hit single Enamorada (In Love) and featured the theme song of the 1995 telenovela of the same name in which Rubio starred as Alma, Pobre Niña Rica (Poor Rich Girl). Rubio also recorded English versions of the songs appearing in the album. Some of these would be released years later in a hits compilation.
After Planeta Paulina, Rubio took the longest retirement of her career. She left the music scene and moved to Spain where she did a little bit of everything. Except for her participation in 1998's Reencuentro Tour with Timbiriche, Paulina was absent from the music scene for nearly four years.
Paulina
Paulina's new look for the millennium as she relaunched her singing career with Universal Music Latino
Rubio's strong comeback to the music scene began in summer of 1999 when she recorded Vive El Verano, the theme song to a summer TV show she was presenting in Spain, which was her first single under her new contract with Universal. In early 2000, the single Lo Hare Por Ti launched her fifth studio album, the self-titled Paulina. Paulina was nominated three times at the second annual Latin Grammy Awards for "Album Of The Year," "Song Of The Year," and "Best Female Pop Vocal Album." She became the winner of multiple awards. It became Rubio's first no. 1 album on Billboard's "Top Latin Albums" chart, as well as the highest selling Latin album of 2001. The album Paulina has sold more than 4 million albums worldwide to this date. Other singles released from the album include the ranchera El Ultimo Adios, Y Yo Sigo AquÃ, Yo No Soy Esa Mujer, Sexi Dance, and Tal Vez, Quizá. Such was the success of Paulina that Universal Records decided it was time for Rubio to prepare her first English-language production.
Border Girl
Paulina Rubio's presence in the English-language market came in 2002. The hit single Don't Say Goodbye rose to the 41st position on the "Billboard Hot 100" Chart and whose music video became a regular on MTV's Total Request Live. On June 18, 2002, Border Girl, Rubio's first foray into English-language-Pop, was released. The album debuted at the 11th position on the "Billboard Hot 200" Chart and was certified Gold in the US. Although her debut English album did not launch her into superstardom out of the Hispanic world, it did give Paulina the international recognition she sought for years. As of June 21, 2002, the Houston, TX radio station 104 KRBE declared the 21st of June as "Paulina Day" in Houston. Rubio also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, and CD:UK, among others. She also performed at many international festivals, including Wango Tango, Festivalbar, and Festival di Sanremo in Italy. With Border Girl, Rubio managed to appear in magazines like Rolling Stone, Stuff, and Blender. In Fall 2002, Rubio toured and performed material from Border Girl with fellow Latin pop star Enrique Iglesias.
Pau-Latina
Paulina Rubio's 2004 comeback album, Pau-Latina, proved to be a smash success. The album's first single, Te Quise Tanto, became her biggest single to date, reaching the top position on Billboard's "Hot Latin Tracks" for several weeks. Pau-Latina became Rubio's second consecutive album to debut at #1 on Billboard's "Top Latin Albums." Other singles released from the album include the #1 track Dame Otro Tequila and the top ten hits Algo Tienes and Mia. Pau-Latina won several awards during the year and was nominated for a Latin Grammy for "Best Pop Female Vocal Album" in 2004. In 2005, she was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Latin Pop Vocal Album." She was the only woman nominated in that category.
The success of Pau-Latina opened doors for Paulina, as she hosted The MTV Latin America Awards for the first time. It was the first time a female artist hosted and proved Paulina is a force to be reckoned with. Paulina Rubio was also named People En Espanol's 2005 Star of the Year.
Ananda - Present
Paulina Rubio released her latest Album Ananda on September 19th, 2006 in th U.S. and on the 18th worldwide. It reached the #1 spot on many charts in countries all over Latin America, the U.S., and Spain. It reached #25 on U.S. Billboard's "Billboard Hot 200" albums chart, and it reached the #1 spot on Billboard's "Top Latin Albums." Ni Una Sola Palabra has reached the #1 spot on radio in many Latin American countries, as well as the U.S. and Spain. It reached #1 on U.S. Billboard's "Hot Latin Tracks." Ananda was recently certified a multi-platinum award for album sales of 250,000 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico only.
In October 2006, Paulina was the only Latin-singer to be invited to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize Gala in Oslo, Norway. Alongside such acts as Rihanna, John Legend, and Lionel Richie, who also lined up to honor 2006 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Muhammad Yunus.
