Ricky Martin

When this former Menudo singer started wooing the pop mainstream in 1999, everybody tipped him as a major star. Yet the Puerto Rican stud was out the door faster than the mocha seductress he sang about in "Livin' La Vida Loca." His English-language debut, Ricky Martin, had electric-salsa disco sleaze such as "The Cup of Life" and "Shake Your Bon Bon," but the crap ballads drove all his new fans away. The followup, Sound Loaded, flopped despite "She Bangs," a me-want-woman song so unbelievably idiotic it verged on genius. Adam Ant could have written the chorus, and that's a compliment. He opted to play the Bush inauguration, shaking his bonbon at the Lincoln Memorial and asking, "Mr. President, may I have this dance, please?" Surprisingly, the White House never invited Martin back to sing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President." Not so surprisingly, Martin split with his agent and went crawling back to the Spanish-language market with La Historia, a collection of early hits. (ROB SHEFFIELD)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide