Famous Latinx Birthdays

Photo from latina.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Gerardo Ortiz! (1989-        ) A Mexican American singer-songwriter and record producer who grew up in Pasadena, California, Ortiz released his first album, Ni Hoy Ni Mañana , in 2010. That album earned him a Grammy award for Best Norteño Album. In 2013, he won a Premio Lo Nuestro for his song Amor confuso. He also received a Premio Lo Nuestro in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 for being the Best Norteño Artist. In 2016 he won Album of the Year for Hoy más fuerte . His latest music video on YouTube, Egoísta , has more than 11 million views (click HERE ). Ortiz's younger brother is Kevin Ortiz , who followed in his brother's footsteps as a musician and is now also a successful singer-songwriter of Mexican regional music. For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE. Other birthdays of note: Tito El Bambino (1981-      ): Singer from Puerto Rico who made...

Photo from billboard.com. Click HERE.  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Carlos Santana! (1947-       ) A Mexican American musician named one of the "greatest guitarists of all time" by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003, Santana has won 10 Grammys and 3 Latin Grammys during his impressive career. Born in Jalisco, Mexico and taught guitar by his father, who was a mariachi, Santana moved to San Francisco with his family as a child. It was there that he got his first chance to perform, at the Fillmore West in 1966, where he impressed audiences with his guitar solos. Soon after, he formed a band, Santana, with other street musicians, and they had a memorable performance at Woodstock in 1969. Santana was extremely popular throughout the 1970s, and they received a resurgence in popularity in the 90s. He is known for pioneering a fusion of rock and Latin American jazz with Afro-Cuban sounds, though it wasn't until 2014 that he produced his first Spanish-language album, Corazó...

César Chávez Day (State Holiday) in California, Colorado, and Texas. Nationwide, though not a federal holiday, it is a day to perform service and engage in community and educational programs honoring Chávez's legacy (as proclaimed by President Barack Obama). ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... César Chávez! (1927-1993) From usnews.com. Click HERE .  An activist who used nonviolent means to bring attention to the plight of farmworkers, Chávez founded the National Farmworkers' Association (now the United Farmworkers) with Dolores Huerta in 1965. Born in Yuma, Arizona, he moved with his family to California to become migrant farm workers after they lost their house during the Great Depression. Chávez dropped out of school after the 7th grade to be able to work more to help support his family. He served in the Navy for two years after World War II but returned to California and his farmworker roots. His newly founded National Farmworkers' Association was responsible for the Grape ...

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Alejandra Espinoza! (1987-       ) Photo from huffingtonpost.com. Click HERE .  A Mexican model and TV presenter who won Univisión's Nuestra Belleza Latina in 2007 and went on to work on El Gordo y La Flaca (often stepping in for Lili Estefan) and Sábado Gigante , Espinoza was one of ten children born to mother Rosa María in Tijuana. As a teenager she worked in a McDonald's and was promoted to manager by the time she was 17. Nonetheless, she had dreams of being an actress and thus entered Nuestra Belleza México in 2006, coming in third. The next year, she entered Nuestra Belleza Latina in the first year of the competition and won (the prize was a car and $50,000, plus a contract for $40,000 a year that allowed her to pursue her dream of working in entertainment). She had just turned 20 years old. El Gordo y La Flaca and Sábado Gigante followed, along with work presenting on the shows La Banda and La Reina de La Canción . In 201...

Photo from aworldofboxing.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Antonio Margarito! (1978-     ) A Mexican-American professional boxer from Torrance, California, he is worth some $15 million dollars, which he earned through many boxing events and championship wins (read more HERE ). He moved to Tijuana, Mexico with his family when he was two years old and grew up in one of the roughest neighborhoods there, which he escaped by spending enormous amounts of time at the local boxing gym. He turned pro when he was 15 years old. Nicknamed El Tornado de Tijuana , he is known for his aggressive fighting style and "iron chin." He retired from boxing in 2012 after nearly thirty years in the ring but returned in 2016. He was married to his high school sweetheart, Michelle, for many years, though the two have now split. Hear Margarito reflect on his life of challenges in this 2011 episode of HBO Boxing: Ring Life (interviews in Spanish with English subtitles). See him ...

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Jorge Ramos! (1958-     ) Photo from jorgeramos.com  The anchorman for Noticiero Univisión since 1986 (along with colleague María Elena Salinas, who just recently stepped down after more than three decades), Ramos has covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, five wars (El Salvador, The Persian Gulf, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq), the disintegration of the former Soviet Union, 9/11, and the catastrophe after Hurricane Katrina (read more on Ramos' website, HERE ).  He has interviewed every U.S. president since George H.W. Bush, except for Donald Trump, who had him kicked out of his press conference in an incident that went viral in 2015 (click HERE ). Ramos, who currently lives in Miami, Florida, was born in Mexico City. He studied communications at Universidad Iberoamerica and then started his career at XEW-TV. He resigned in 1983 after the station edited a story of his that included interviews with people critical of the Mexican gover...