Yuri (Mexican singer)
| Yuri | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Yuridia Valenzuela-Canseco |
| Born | 6 January 1964 |
| Origin | Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico |
| Genres | Latin pop, Mexican pop, mariachi, salsa |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, actress, TV host |
| Years active | 1977–present |
Yuri (born Yuridia Valenzuela-Canseco, 6 January 1964) is a famous Mexican singer, actress and TV host. She has maintained a significant presence in the entertainment business in Mexico since the 1970s, although she is little known outside of Mexico. Born and raised in Veracruz, Mexico, she moved to Mexico City in 1977, for a career in entertainment.
Born to Carlos Humberto Valenzuela Priego (died 2007), a medical doctor, and Dulce Canseco, she was the youngest of three; one brother, Carlos Valenzuela Canseco, and sister, Yamili Valenzuela Canseco. Her grandfather is of Cuban descent. During her childhood she studied ballet; at age nine she received a scholarship to study ballet at the famous Bolshoi in Moscow, Russia. However, due to her age and the prospect of having their young daughter living in a foreign country her parents declined. A few years later, her mother in compensation allowed her to join a garage band in Veracruz called Yuri y La Manzana Eléctrica. The band played at fiestas and important festivals around the city of Veracruz; at one of these festivals she had the opportunity to sing with Celia Cruz. During another performance, Julio Jaramillo, an executive producer from the recording studio Gamma, discovered her talent as a singer. Julio Jaramillo proposed a record deal, and urged her to move to Mexico City. Her parents had an altercation over the future of their younger daughter. Her father wanted her to pursue a college degree, and her mother, convinced of Yuri's talent and charisma, supported her artistic endeavor. In the mid-1970s, she and her mother left the rest of the family in Veracruz to pursue a record deal in Mexico City without her father's consent or economic support.
Once they arrived in Mexico City, her mother became her manager. At first, they struggled economically until Yuri finally started recording her first album. Her mother was an effective manager and had to fight the record executives to fulfill their verbal contract with her daughter. Yuri's first album, Tú Iluminas Mi Vida, was released on Gamma Records in 1978. The title track was a cover of the Debby Boone smash hit "You Light Up My Life". The album went almost unnoticed. In the same year, she obtained a role in the movie Milagro en el circo. Later that year she co-hosted with Cepillín on the TV show, En Familia con Chabelo.
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