Miguel Bosé

Early life

Bosé was born in the San Fernando Hospital in Panama City, Panama, the son of Italian actress Lucia Bosè (real name Lucia Borloni) and bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín. He is also a cousin to the late Carmen Ordóñez, a Spanish celebrity in the bullfighting world. Additionally, Bosé grew up surrounded by art and culture: Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway were close friends of the family. The film director Luchino Visconti was his godfather while Pablo Picasso was the godfather to his sister Paola Dominguin.

Career

Propelled by his famous family and their friends, in 1971, Bosé started a career as an actor, participating in various movies. He quickly won spots on the basis of his talent and good looks alone, rather than his name, and he did study serious acting as well as dancing and singing. However, he did not make that many films, and in 1975 he decided a career change was due and started exploring his talents as a singer. With the assistance of Camilo Blanes he recorded his first singles. Two years later, in 1977, Bosé signed a contract with CBS Records, and he remained with them until 1984. Between 1977 and 1982, Bosè was a major teen idol in Italy, Spain and Southern Europe in general. He had 7 top ten hits in a disco/new wave trend that earned him a secure spot in every televised song festival held in the aforementioned countries, but, by 1983, his star had severely waned in Italy, and he rarely performed there again until the 2000s, retreating to Latin American markets instead.

In 1983, 1984, and 1985, he participated in the "Llena Tu Cabeza De Rock" television specials on Puerto Rico WAPA-TV. But it was in 1985 that he became an international superstar, when his song "Amante bandido" rose to the top of the charts all over Latin America and in Spain, while he started to decline in Italy (where he had a parallel career, singing in both Italian and English – he would go back to the top there in 1994, by winning Festivalbar (the second musical event after the Sanremo Music Festival) for the third time). The video to that song also became one of the most widely seen Spanish music videos, with Bose playing both a Superman style superhero and an Indiana Jones type of adventurer in it.

2007: Papito

On March 20, 2007, to celebrate his 30 years as a singer, he released Papito, an album that contains remakes of his previous songs, re-interpreted in duets with Juanes, Alejandro Sanz, Fangoria, Ivete Sangalo, Laura Pausini, Shakira, Julieta Venegas, Ricky Martin, Amaia Montero (past member of the Spanish band La Oreja de Van Gogh), and Michael Stipe from R.E.M., along with many other singers. Three singles were released off Papito: the first is a re-make of his hit "Nena", featuring Mexican superstar Paulina Rubio; the second was "Morena Mía", with Mexican pop diva Julieta Venegas. The third single "Como un lobo" featured his niece Bimba Bosé. "Nena" was by far the most successful single off the album. It was nominated for a Latin Grammy for best song and became the best selling download of Spain in 2007.

In 2008, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe offered him Colombian citizenship because of his efforts towards peace in Colombia, including his participation in two concerts in 2008. On March 16, 2010 he received Colombian citizenship during a ceremony in the presidential palace, Casa de Nariño.

2012: Papitwo

After several "hints" on Twitter, on September 4, 2012 he released the album Papitwo, a follow-up to his successful Papito. The album contained additional remakes of well-known songs from his career, again featuring artists such as Juanes on "Partisano", Bimba Bosé on "Shoot Me in the Back" and Alejandro Sanz on "Te Comería El Corazón". It also included new collaborations with singers such as Pablo Alborán on "Puede Que", Juan Luis Guerra on "Creo En Ti", Tiziano Ferro on "Amiga", Jovanotti on "Mirarte", Malú on his first hit "Linda" (first single in Spain), Joaquín Sabina on "Sol Forastero", Ximena Sariñana on "Aire Soy" (first single in the Americas) and Dani Martín on "Te Digo Amor", among others. The Hollywood actress Penélope Cruz collaborated on the unreleased song "Decirnos Adiós", composed by her brother for Bosé.

The album has two versions, a single disc with 14 previous hits remade with different artists and a deluxe one, with another CD containing 14 collaborations that Bosé made with singers during his career, including Hombres G on "Lo Noto", Raphael on "Morir de Amor", Natalia Lafourcade on "Si No Pueden Quererte", Spanknox on "Wrong in the Right Way", among others.

The album was released to coincide with Bosé's "Papitwo" Tour, which started in Madrid.

Miguel Bosé was honoured as the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year on November 20, 2013.

Studio albums

Live albums

Collaborations

Compilation albums

Singles

Actor