¡SupereXtraordinarisimo!: In Focus: Thalia

Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda (born August 26, 1971), known simply as Thalía, is a Mexican singer and former actress. Her name is linked to soap operas which made her famous worldwide. Thalía began her music career at the age of 8. Her soap operas have been watched by over 2 billion people in 180 countries. She is known globally as "the queen of soaps" for being the biggest TV phenomenon in the decade of 90s. Thalía has the keys of more than 50 cities in the world, and has toured in five continents, making her one of the most internationally famous Latin singers ever. Thalía has received more than 2000 awards throughout her career for both singing and acting and is a multi-platinum singer.

Thalía was born in Mexico City. She is the daughter of Ernesto Sodi Pallares, a scientist, doctor of pathology, criminologist and writer, and Yolanda Miranda Mange, a painter and Thalía's manager from 1980 to 1999. She is the youngest of four sisters: Laura, Federica, Gabriela and Ernestina. She is of Spanish ancestry.[4] On December 2, 2000, Thalía married music executive Tommy Mottola. On October 7, 2007, she gave birth to her first child, a girl named Sabrina Sakaë Mottola Sodi. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

In 1981, Thalía started her musical career as a vocalist in the Mexican child group Din Din. She performed in the music festival "Juguemos a Cantar" as a member of the group and later, as a soloist. As a vocalist, she is considered a mezzo-soprano. In 1984, she was cast in the teenage version of the stage production "Grease", being cast in the lead role of Sandy.

In 1996, Thalía performed at concerts at both the Folk Arts Theater which filled up the SRO total seat capacity and at the Araneta Coliseum which filled up to its SRO 25,000 thousand seat capacity.

In 1997, Thalía came back to the Philippines to release her album Nandito Ako, also the CD single. She also gave two major live concerts that year, both at the Araneta Coliseum. The album is mostly recorded in Tagalog and English. This was Thalía's actual "crossover", and she did it before many other Latin American singers started to sing in English, including Ricky Martin, Shakira or Paulina Rubio. "Nandito ako" features the Tagalog version of Wilfrido Vargas' merengue song "El Venao", whose title in the album is "Chika Lang". The CD was re-edited in 2007 by EMI, to commemorate the 10 years of its release. This later version features different pictures from the original album, all of them taken from the CD "El sexto sentido", which Thalía was going to record many years later. Also in that year, she traveled back to the Philippines and had a major concert at the Araneta Coliseum.

"Nandito Ako" (I Am Here)

Nandito Ako (Tagalog of I Am Here) was the fifth album released by Thalía and her first compilation album. The original song was sung by Ogie Alcasid. It was exclusively released in the Philippines, where she became a major superstar because of her telenovela Marimar.

Nandito Ako went multi-diamond in Philippines for sales exceeding 1 million copies. The album, composed of ten tracks, includes her first single "Nandito Ako" which was recorded after her major concert in the Philippines. It also features the Tagalog version of "María la del Barrio", "El Venao" and "Juana" and the English versions of "Quiero Hacerte El Amor" and "Gracias A Dios". She also made her own versions of the songs "Tell Me" and "Hey, It's Me".

This is an album that was sung half in English and half in Tagalog (language spoken in the Philippines.) Ricky R. Ilacad is its executive producer. Due to Thalia's success in the Philippines, the album was released in 1997 in this country, and other Asian countries, under the label OctoArts EMI. This is the first time Thalia sang in English and Tagalog. It was certified multi-platinum only a week after it was released.

After ten years, it was re-released in the Philippines with the inclusion of one of her signature songs like "Marimar".

Track Listing

1. "Nandito Ako" (Aaron Paul Del Rosario)
2."I Found Your Love (Gracias A Dios)" (Juan Gabriel) (English version: Alfred Matheus and Joel Duma)
3. "Tender Kisses" (Viktoria and Rica Arambulo)
4. "Mariang Taga-Barrio (Maria La Del Barrio)" (Viviana Pimstein and Paco Navarette) (Tagalog version: Larry Chua)
5. "Tell Me" (Louie Ocampo)
6. "Chika Lang (El Venao)" (Ramon Orlando Valoy) (Tagalog version: Larry Chua)
7. "You Are Still On My Mind (Quiero Hacerte El Amor)" (Daniel Garcia and Mario Schajris) (English version: Ismael Ledezma)
8. "Amandote (Remix)" (A.B. Quintanilla III and Ricky Vela))
9. "Hey, It's Me" (Jamie Rivera and Jimmy Antiporda)
10. "Juana (Tagalog Version)" (Myrna Stella Turner) (Tagalog version: Archie Martinez)