twinkle some six feet above the floor of Sony Studios in midtown Manhattan as he eagerly offers a hand in welcome. His snug, open-chested shirt sparkles in the dim studio light.
The pop Adonis's dimpled chin and odd upright strands of blonde-streaked hair frame a tanned face of chiseled perfection. But it's only later, when he leaps to his feet and tears off his shirt, that it hits me. This may be the most beautiful man I have ever seen.
"Excuse me," he says with a peal of laughter. "I have to change into my pyjamas." A gaggle of minders moves in with loose-fitting clothes for an imminent flight to Los Angeles, where the star is scheduled to lay down one last vocal for his coming album, Sound Loaded.
Before I'm bustled out of the studio, he will itemize his itinerary with glee: LA for four days, London for two, Europe for a week, back to New York for a day and on to Tokyo the same night. There he'll perform six concerts before shorter stints in Taiwan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia.
"I love it!" he hoots. "I love that crazy stuff, cause I can talk about it later: `I had breakfast in London, lunch in New York and dinner in Tokyo!' The record company loves it too because they don't have any (other) artist who does that. But I'll do it," he says, clapping his hands. "Why not?"
Given a lifestyle that abandoned reason years ago, "why not?" is a recurring question in Ricky Martin's conversation. This vida loca has been his lot for more than half of his 28 years, since he joined Puerto Rican boy band Menudo at the age of 12. But the past 18 months have seen the madness escalate into a phenomenon.
Martin's show-stopping Grammy Awards appearance in February 1999 was a dramatic turning point in a stellar career. An estimated billion viewers in 187 countries caught his explosive performance of La Copa De La Vida. It was the moment he leapt from Latin superstardom into the open arms of the world at large.
Three months later, his first English language album debuted at number one on the US charts. Nine other territories followed, including Australia. Led by the smash single Livin' La Vida Loca, Ricky Martin has since sold 15 million copies, taking his career total to somewhere near 25 million.
And we ain't heard nothing yet. Before being ushered into Ricky's presence, I've been assailed with his latest single a dozen times on stun volume. Its title, She Bangs, is destined to translate poorly in some territories, but its hell-for-leather steamy Latin rock feel makes for another surefire chart topper.
"Well, you're gonna hear rock guitar, you're gonna hear blues, jazzy blues, you're gonna hear the Brazilian sounds and you're gonna hear the Latin sounds," Martin says when complimented on his latest piece of canny genre-crossing.
"All the influences that I'm presenting on this album are places that I've been within the last 18, 20 months; all the people that I've shaken hands with. Also people who have given me some education about music, from Sting to Madonna, people that have been there showing me the beauty of silence and showing me that out of silence you can get music. That's a little bit contradictive, but it's nothing but reality."
His voice drops to a near whisper for the last word and he opens his hands theatrically, like a faith healer. His broadly American English is not without grammatical bugs but he talks with fluent determination, bulldozing through regardless.
"I don't wanna compare both albums because I'm not the same. Two years ago and now are two different people with the same roots, with the same culture," he adds with forefinger raised.
"You know, my personal challenge was to be completely satisfied with every single track on the album and I am. So for me it's already a success. There's a lot of passion, there's a lot of reality, there's a lot of fusion, a lot of quality. There's great musicians working on this album and great producers."
"That doesn't mean it's gonna be a big success," he pauses for a million-dollar smile, "but I think it will be".
Gracious. Modest. Garrulous. Ricky Martin's PR pitch is silky smooth. He's warm and likeable, his passionate Latin spirit glowing and his glib statements bolstered by earnest expressions and animated gestures. But it's almost impossible to break through the veneer of the seasoned entertainer to the "real" Ricky underneath.
Can he really be thrilled to his tan leather boots to be playing Australia? He slaps his leg at the prospect, enquires eagerly about surfing conditions and counts off the selling points of his latest stage spectacular with contagious excitement.
"We have 100 people, from lighting engineers and technicians, and we have the whole hotel every time we go somewhere! On stage we're 12. Not always. Most of the time it's me and the band and in four songs the dancers show up. It's great."
"It's a very enthusiastic show, it's very futuristic but at the same time it's really earthy, with the sounds of the drums. It's very percussive. I go onstage with a car and I'm on the hood and there's constant movement on the stage."
"You will not get bored, I promise you. Right now we've done 110 concerts with this show and I don't get bored. You find something new every day. In Australia we will be singing three songs from the new album."
But it's not purely about entertainment, Martin says. He speaks earnestly about the prejudice he has faced as a Latin performer, alluding to a proposed remake of West Side Story with Jennifer Lopez that he turned down for fear of perpetuating Puerto Rican stereotypes.
"I think that pop is something that is very important and necessary for society. And if you add a little bit of Latin sound, that's great because we're educating at the same time. My mission is to educate and let people know what's going on south of the border of the United States, and to make them dance!" He pauses, throws up his arms, and says: "Why not?"
I'm sure I don't know. Unless it's the fact that your day-to-day existence becomes a circus of cameras and tape recorders, your alleged sexual orientation becomes fodder for snide conjecture by millions of strangers, and you spend half your life in transit from limousine to plane to hotel to stadium and back again. In your pyjamas.
With a serene smile, Martin credits meditation and kriya yoga with his evident inner peace. He also travels with his own chef, personal trainer and masseuse, and a legion of friends take turns keeping him company on the road. "That helps a lot," he says emphatically, though his determined positivity falters slightly when probed.
"Stardom is really intense," he allows. "Fame can be as beautiful as paradise and as ugly as a dogfight."
"What do I hate about stardom? I hate paparazzi. I don't hate it," he corrects himself gently, "because I don't hate. But when you lose your intimacy ..."
"Where I live (in Miami) I have my house, my patio and I have a bay and I'll go out to lay in the sun and I see a boat full of lenses. Sometimes it's a little weird. `Thank you very much, I appreciate you coming, if whatever you're gonna say is real, take a picture!' But they start inventing some things and ..." He grimaces.
It's not that he gets upset personally, Martin explains. But his eight-year-old nieces can be traumatised when a stroll to the park suddenly turns into a mad sprint for cover stuffed under Uncle Enrique's arms. He mentions John Lennon's name under his breath. "Sometimes it's a little scary."
Fellow paparazzi magnet Madonna taught Martin a lot, he says. The pair became friends after his Grammy-night triumph, leading to their subsequent duet, Be Careful (Cuidado Com Mi Corazon). She and Sting one of Martin's longest standing musical heroes have both proven kindred in his spiritual quest.
"I think that when you find silence, which is something I've been practicing for the last two years, that has been my quote/unquote my key to success," he says with a beatific smile. "Practicing meditation and yoga, you can clear your mind and create this beautiful vulnerability (within) all the noise and the craziness. You erase that, focus on whatever's positive.
"This also affected my music," he says, steering the conversation back to safer ground. "I went to India and learned about (yoga and meditation) and now we're finding Hindu instruments and Middle Eastern instruments in my music as well. This is what I want to do, to create an international sound, with my roots in Latin music."
And he's off again, paying heartfelt tribute to his "dream team" of collaborators, the same US/ Latino pop royalty responsible for his last album as well as massive successes by artists as diverse as Aerosmith, Gloria Estefan, Mariah Carey, Kiss, Barbra Streisand and Bon Jovi.
From a commercial standpoint, Ricky Martin is the ideal combination of multi-platinum hit factory expertise and perfect photogenic showman. He squirms when I dredge up his first public victory: in a beautiful baby contest in the early '70s. Is beauty a curse as well as a blessing? I've got to be kidding.
"Do I take care of myself to look good? No," he chuckles, palms raised. "Do I take care of my skin? No. I'm just who I am and my priority is to make good music. If I'm handsome and it works, well, great! What am I gonna do about it? Take advantage! Move your bon-bon, you know?"
"If you wanna fantasize with me, TOO GOOD!" He's positively flailing with mirth, now. "Am I a sex symbol? If you want me to be, I'll be! Perfect! In the meantime I just wanna have fun and I want you to have fun. That's where I'm at."
From this side of the spotlight, it looks like a pretty comfy position, with a full view of the possibilities and a deliberate blind spot to the hype. Martin confides excitedly about his ambition to return to Broadway, this time as a director, producer and even writer (he starred in Les Miserables for 10 weeks in 1996).
Asked point blank if he'd like to address the tabloid allegation of his choice, he politely declines. "You know what? What's out there is already out there and there's nothing I can do about it," he says with a smile. "It's only time. Time will tell if it's true or not because I'm not. Right?"
Right. Give or take a spontaneous shirt removal, this charming evasion is about as much of the real Ricky Martin as a stranger is likely to glimpse in one sitting. As I'm whisked out of his tornado life forever, I realize that my very first, superficial Grammy-night impressions remain completely intact. Whether sharing a studio couch or a global TV telecast, we're all just lucky extras in The Ricky Martin Show.
"My concerts are about joy, not feeling judged and being in touch with your soul," Martin said Tuesday. "I want to find peace and to project peace."
The latest video from the gyrating Puerto Rican heartthrob features Martin posing atop a glass box filled with groping nudes. The 28-year-old star lashed out at suggestions his act is too sexual.
"I'm tired of all that 'Ooh' stuff - let's live, let's get rid of taboo, and let's start breathing, please," Martin told reporters during a stop here on his Asian tour.
Martin said he finds his inspiration "from silence, to be honest, and my meditation."
You can tell a lot about a pop star by what he wants in that hallowed area known as backstage. In Ricky Martin?s case he doesn?t drink, he doesn?t like leather furniture, and he?s both ecologically and homeless-folk-friendly.
While his fans will be munching their hot dogs and chips at Ericsson Stadium tonight, the exclusively Armani-clad Mr Martin and his entourage will be grazing on the healthy stuff.
Martin??s dressing-room requirements include tortilla chips and salsa, bottles of spring water and Pepsi and Diet Pepsi, chamomile and apple cinnamon tea, ice, fresh fruit and a cheese and cracker tray of local cheddar, brie, munster and gouda.
Pre-show dinner for Martin and his 30-strong onstage entourage includes a mix of hot meat and vegetarian mains, vegetables, salads, home-made vegetable soup and a variety of desserts. Yum. Oh, and Ricky says the leftovers have to go to a homeless shelter and there must be recycling bins for plastics, glass, paper, aluminum and songs. No, just kidding about the last one.
London, 16 October 2000: Ending weeks of speculation, rumour and intrigue, MTV is delighted to announce that three superstars - living legend Madonna, screen siren and ??Latin Soul?? artiste Jennifer Lopez, and Latino Sensation Ricky Martin are to join the already dazzling performer line-up for the 7th annual MTV Europe Music Awards, which broadcasts live from The Globe, Stockholm on 16th November 2000.
