Paulina Rubio

Unlike many kids who grow up dreaming of stardom, singer Paulina Rubio didn’t have to wait for adulthood to get her first taste of fame. By the time she was ten, Rubio, the daughter of Mexican film star Susana Dosamantes, was part of the children’s group Timbiriche. A decade later her solo debut, La Chica Dorada (1992), was released by EMI, generating the breakthrough hit “Mío.” Three more EMI albums followed — 24 Kilates (1993), Tiempo Es Oro (1995), and Planeta Paulina (1996) — none nearly as successful as her debut. Though by this point she had become a recognizable face on the Latin pop scene, it wasn’t until 2000, when her debut album for Universal, Paulina, was issued, that she began to get recognition stateside, hitting number one on the Billboard Latin chart and earning Latin Grammy nominations, success that was only augmented with the subsequent releases Pau-Latina (2004) and Ananda (2006). Her first English-language record, Border Girl (2002), was her only stumble after moving from EMI to Universal. Her early recordings for EMI, generally subpar by a considerable margin to her latter-day Universal work, have been recyled on endless budget-line compilations like Historia (2003) and Mio: Paulina y Sus Éxitos (2006). ~ Marisa Brown & Jason Birchmeier