Miguel Rafael Martos Sánchez, simply referred to as Raphael, is a Spanish singer and television, film and theater actor. Raphael is recognized as one of the most successful Spanish singers in the world. He is nicknamed both El Ruiseñor de Linares, El Divo de Linares and El Niño. His family moved to Madrid when he was nine months old, and he started singing when he was just three. He joined a children's choir at age four. When he was nine, he was recognized as the best child voice in Europe at a contest in Salzburg, Austria. His two idols were US singer Elvis Presley and French diva Edith Piaf. He began his professional career by singing with the Dutch record label Philips. He adopted his own peculiar singing style from the beginning; he is known for acting each one of his songs while on stage, emphasizing his gestures with high dramatic effect. It is not unusual for him to ad lib lyrics as to localize a song depending on the venue he's singing at. 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. When he was nineteen, he won first, second and third awards at the famous Benidorm International Song Festival, Spain, in 1962 and 1963. After a brief relation with Barclay record label, he signed a contract with Hispavox recording company, and began a long artistic relationship with the musical director of this label, the late, talented Argentinian orchestrator Waldo de los Ríos and intensify the partnership with outstanding Spanish songwriter Manuel Alejandro.
