Lin-Manuel Miranda is best known as the American composer, lyricist, playwright, rapper, and actor that created and starred in the Broadway musicals “In the Heights” and “Hamilton”. Miranda was born in New York City on January 16th, 1980 and is of mostly Puerto Rican decent. As a child, Miranda wrote jingles and always expressed an interest both music and his Puerto Rican roots. Miranda attended Wesleyan University which is where he wrote his earliest draft of his Broadway musical “In the Heights”. After graduating in 2002, his career took off and he began working with directors, book writers, etc. and by 2008 had his first show on Broadway. In the last 10 years Miranda has worked on the musical “Bring It On” (2011-14), appeared in “Merrily We Roll Along”, been seen in small film and TV roles, Hamilton (2015), and lots of work Disney (2015-present).
Specifically, in addition, he co-wrote the sound track for the Disney movie “Moana” and is planned to star in the upcoming film “Mary Poppins Returns”. Lin-Manuel Miranda has been a big advocate for social and political change since 2016. Some specifics include joining U.S. Senators such as Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, and other Democratic lawmakers to back a bill in Washington which would allow Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy and ease the $70 billion government-debt burden, writing a song to raise money for Puerto Rico after the devastation that Hurricane Maria left, and performing with Ben Platt at the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington D.C.The numerous awards he has won include a Pulitzer Prize, three Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, and three Tony Awards.
“Almost Like Praying” was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and recorded by him and various other Hispanic artists such as Jennifer Lopez, Camilla Cabello, Gloria Estefan, Fat, Joe, and Mac Anthony under the collective name “Artists for Puerto Rico”. The track was released on October 6, 2017 by Atlantic Records to help support relief efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria struck the island in September of 2017. Proceeds from the song were donated to the victims and survivors of the hurricane. The song reached number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the Billboard Digital Songs sales chart selling 111,000 downloads and achieved 5.2 million streams in its first week available in the US. This enormous success had helped the Hispanic Federation raise $22 million for rescue efforts and disaster relief.
Written By Rachel Anello
Politics Through Rhythm 