[4] At age twelve, he participated in the contest "Festival Infantil Juventud 74" with "Gracias al Mundo", a song composed by his father, finally winning the event.

[9] He also taught at a primary school (called Santa Elena III),[6] where he claimed to have spent six hours giving lessons and the rest of the day playing football.

[6] Arjona began his musical career at age 21,[7] when he signed with the now defunct Guatemalan record label, Discos de Centroamérica, S.A.,[12] and distributed by PolyGram,[13] and released his debut album Déjame Decir Que Te Amo in 1985.

[6] At age 24, Arjona reversed course and sought the opportunity to represent his country in the OTI Festival with the song "Con Una Estrella En El Vientre".

[4] His second studio album, Jesús, Verbo No Sustantivo brought him commercial and critical success across Latin America and the U.S. and became a best-seller in many Central American territories.

[4][6] Arjona started the new decade as a regular in the Mexican telenovela (soap opera) "Alcanzar una Estrella" (English translation: Reaching a Star), which assisted him in becoming a known singer throughout Latin America.

That year, he started composing songs for other artists, such as Yuri's "Detrás de Mi Ventana", for her album Nueva era (1993).

[19] Animal Nocturno sold 500,000 copies in 1994,[20] and carried Arjona to fame[21][22] along with his work on the Mexican telenovela Alcanzar Una Estrella, which allowed him to showcase his songwriting and singing skills.

"[37] Birchmeier awarded the album 3 stars stating "All in all, Galería Caribe is a curious entry in Arjona's catalog that most fans can overlook without missing much.

[18][29] To promote the album, which sold more than one million copies, Arjona embarked on his Galería Caribe Tour, which began in Mexico in 2000 and finished in 2001.

[45] On 19 November 2002, Arjona released his ninth studio album, Santo Pecado, preceded by singles "El Problema", which reached No.

[32] In 2003 Arjona released Lados B, his second compilation album, including songs that were "not so commercial", and that he wanted to give a second chance at radio airplay.

[48] In an interview, the singer commented that he first "tested" Torres by sending him the "hookiest and darkest tracks" on the album, "Acompañame A Estar Solo" and "Iluso".

[36] The album was critically acclaimed, with Evan C. Gutiérrez from Allmusic giving it four stars out of five and commenting that "Be it for the stripped, natural production value, the confident performance of Ricardo Arjona, or his relevant-as-ever lyricism, he's got both his loyal fans and the execs at Norte smiling.

The album is a two-disc set which contains, on the first disc, new versions of past hits, some of them including featured artists such as Marta Sánchez on "Tarde (Sin Daños a Terceros)" from Sin Daños a Terceros; Panteón Rococó on "Si El Norte Fuera el Sur", from the album of the same name; Marc Anthony on "Historia de Taxi", from Historias; Eros Ramazzotti on "A Ti", from Adentro, and Sandro on "Realmente No Estoy Tan Solo", from Historias, and which was the last song recorded by the singer, who died on 4 January 2010.

[56] Iñigo Zabala, chairman of Warner Music Latin America, said "He's an artist that fits perfectly with our company," and that "We are a label that has a major catalog of songwriters and quality pop and rock from the likes of Maná, Alejandro Sanz, Laura Pausini, and now, Arjona.

[18][29] He moved approximately 200,000 copies of the album in the first month at retail, and it went Platinum in Mexico,[40][57][58] the United States,[32][59] Spain, Argentina,[23][60] Venezuela,[61] Colombia, Guatemala, and several other countries.

Birchmeier gave it three-and-a-half stars out of five, saying that "More typical than exceptional for Arjona at this point in his career, 5to Piso isn't as grand an album as his past few...

The tour included 123 shows in the United States,[67] Spain,[68][69] Argentina,[70][71] Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico, among many other countries in Latin America, and ended on 18 June 2010.

[86] Billboard noted that although other groups have decided to go independent after working with major record labels, Arjona was by far the most important artist in Latin pop to do so.

The tour, presented by Loud and Live, kicked off March 24, 2022 at the Kiva Auditorium in Albuquerque and concluded on June 11, 2022 at Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan.

[91] In 1988, during his time in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he met Puerto Rican Leslie Torres with whom he began a long-distance relationship as Arjona had decided to stay in Mexico for a few years.

Animal Nocturno intersperses energetic rock songs among heartfelt ballads, and the instrumentation is heavy on guitar, synthesizer, and drums.

[98] In Galería Caribe, Arjona explored Afro-Caribbean sounds, employing traditional rhythms such as guaracha, bachata, merengue, and salsa.

[99] On Santo Pecado, Arjona explored the use of symphonic sounds on his ballads, amidst a couple of rock songs stylistically similar to those on Sin Daños a Terceros.

[100] This album included the song "La Nena (Bitácora de un Secuetro)", in which Arjona relates the story of a girl who is kidnapped by her uncle.

[102] On this album, Arjona included more Latin sounds, Mexican and Tejano music on "Mojado",[103] a song about immigration;[104] merengue and Colombian tones on "Adiós Melancolía", and some on "No Te Cambio Por Nada".

[113] He also commented that Poquita Ropa "finds Arjona at his most naked, backed by spare arrangements of acoustic guitar, piano, and Hammond B-3 along with occasional touches of strings, woodwinds, and chorus vocals.

He compared the production values and musical style of Independiente with those of past albums Animal Nocturno and Historias, stating, "Returning fans will revel in this combination of freedom and growth, and appreciate the return of producer Tommy Torres, the man who has been behind the boards for quite a few of Arjona's most popular releases", referring precisely to the absence of Torres in the production of Poquita Ropa.

[115] In 1993, he received the Rafael Álvarez Ovalle Order from the then President of Guatemala, Ramiro de León Carpio, for his international accomplishments.