Ricky Martin Maps Out June, July Concert Plans

Ricky Martin has lined up an extensive U.S. summer arena tour that will take him to many of the venues he played in 1999, as well as several new markets. The Puerto Rico native has a busy schedule in the meantime, including a seven-city Canadian tour in March that will also drop into Albany, N.Y.

All of the tickets for the opening leg of Martin's U.S. tour were snapped up less than an hour after they went on sale last July, prompting the addition of 11 more dates to his itinerary. Ticket onsale dates for the newly announced concerts were not released by press time.

Martin's spring touring plans also include three Australian dates and a European stint.

In 1999, Ricky Martin's tour grossed $22.6 million in North America over 27 shows in 23 markets. It placed at No. 16 on Pollstar's annual listing of the continent's top tours.

Martin, who once starred on the American soap opera "General Hospital,'' has long been established as a top-selling recording artist in many Spanish-speaking countries. He first gained fame as a member of the pre-pubescent Latin pop group Menudo.

His debut English-language album was released by C2/Columbia last May, and has sold more than 6 million copies in the U.S., according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

Martin's ubiquitous single "Livin' La Vida Loca" was nominated for Grammys in the Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year categories, but in both cases, the trophy was awarded to the track "Smooth" by Santana with Matchbox 20's Rob Thomas.