Yuri (born January 6, 1964) is a famous Mexican singer, actress, and TV host.
Biography
Yuri was born Yuridia Valenzuela Canseco in Veracruz, Mexico to Carlos Valenzuela, a doctor, and Dulce Canseco on January 6, 1964. She has an older brother and a younger sister. At age nine she received a scholarship to the famous Boshoi in Moscow. However, due to her age and the prospect of having their young daughter living in a foreign country her parents declined. In the mid-1970's she formed Yuri y la Manzana Eléctrica, a garage band in her native Veracruz and is discovered by singer Julio Jaramillo. Encouraged by Jaramillo, Yuri and her mother relocated to Mexico City in hopes of signing a record deal. The rest of the family was left behind. The year 1978 saw her debut "Tú Iluminas Mi Vida" on Gamma Records. The title track was a cover of the Debby Boone smash hit "You Light Up My Life". The album went almost without notice. In 1979 Yuri represented Mexico in Festival OTI, where she came in second place and won the award for best newcomer. In 1982, she participated again in the Festival OTI, this time earning a fourth place. By the early 1980's, and now signed to a major record label, her career took off, becoming widely known in Spain, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Argentina, and many other Hispanic countries. One of Yuri's biggest hit songs from this era, heard widely on Spanish radio and in dance clubs, was the uptempo "Que Te Pasa?" For the rest of the 1980s, and first half of the 1990's, Yuri's albums and singles often reached the top of the charts, earning her over 100 gold albums in Mexico alone. In 1988 Yuri married Fernando Iriarte, the son of television personality Maxine Woodside. Iriarte becomes her manager and despite being a novice proved to be quite efficient, giving Yuri a more sophisticated sound and image. They divorced in 1990. In 1994, Yuri and fellow pop star Chayanne were the stars of Volver a Empezar, a telenovela that was panned by critics but earned big ratings for Televisa. In 1995, she married Rodrigo Espinoza, a Chilean musician. The same year she became a born-again Christian and stopped singing secular music. At the time, she had expressed considerable regret for her past lifetime, confessing that at a time, she had become a sex addict, and that she would demand sex from anyone she found attractive enough after drinking even minor quantities of alcohol, even to the point of missing professional appearances while indulging in sexual marathons. She then visited numerous Christian congregations in Mexico and abroad, gave testimony of the radical change she had experienced, and warned youth against the dangers of promiscuity and unprotected sex. Yuri was a judge during the first and second seasons of Cantando Por un Sueño. She also performed several times on the show. In 2006 Yuri released an album with a Mexican singer, Mijares, called Acompañame. The album was her first to be certified gold in almost a decade. Currently (2007) Yuri is the host of "Objetivo Fama" a talent show produced by Univision / Telefutura that is broadcasted to the United States and Puerto Rico. She has also recorded a live show (February 2007) at the Metropolitan Theatre in Mexico City that is set to be released as a CD/DVD in the spring.
Discography
Albums
Filmography
| Year |
Title |
| 1979 |
Milagro en el circo |
| 1983 |
Secuestro en Acapulco |
| 1992 |
Soy Libre |
| 1995 |
Altos Instintos |
| 1999 |
Yuri mi verdadera historia |
External links
Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico
