Ricardo Arjona

Ah, just when you thought some guys had vanished, you're reminded they are still out there, making the rounds, filling arenas and stadiums across the Hispanophone world. A simple singer who has always distinguished himself with bare melodies and the symbiotic relationship between guitar and voice (with the occasional addition of flavors du jour and tempo-play), Ricardo Arjona is more than anything an honest musician who mistakenly gets pegged with the ambiguous "Spanish-pop" brand more often than not, and who also happens to be a walking dream to millions of Spanish-speaking women everywhere. Hard to believe given the disastrous glam curls he sported on the cover of his breakthrough 1993 record, Animal Nocturno. With last year's Adentro, this hard-working Guatemalan continues to solidify his niche on the global music scene. He's a former teacher — could it be a subconscious "hot for teacher" thing?