Biography
Rafael Martos Sánchez, worldwide as Raphael, is one of the best known singers from Spain. His wide-range voice, added to his flamboyant stage personna has entertained and engaged people worldwide for more than four decades. He is also a movie and television actor. He is the father of Spanish movie director Jacobo Martos.
Raphael is known for acting each one of his songs while onstage, sometimes exaggerating his mannerisms for dramatic effect. He also possesses a wide vocal range, which he often used in the beginning of his career as to evoke a choirboy approach to some songs.
He was known once for being superstitious about never going onstage without at least a black shirt on (and, most often, dressed entirely in black, a la Johnny Cash). He has not been consistent with this, but he does go onstage dressed in black quite often.
Raphael’s health faced a major setback in 2003, when his liver started failing due to a latent bout with Hepatitis C; he recovered successfully after a transplant. Since then he is an active organ donation promoter.
His record company, Hispavox, awarded him with an “Uranium Disc” for his album “Ayer, Hoy, Siempre” due to the impossibility of giving him 300 platinum discs - the Spanish equivalent of his 50 million record selling.
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