Up from Nothing
March 30, 2006 — -- Up from Nothing. "20/20" reports the amazing stories of everyday people who started at the bottom and made it to the top, rising above their circumstances to become rich or famous -- or both.
Among them: rock star Jon Bon Jovi, who used to sweep floors to make a dollar; Shakira, who went from obscurity to an international pop sensation; struggling Mexican immigrants who helped put their kids through college -- one graduated from MIT -- by cashing in bottles and cans; and a housewife who created a mop and really cleaned up.
With her new hit single, "Hips Don't Lie," pop star Shakira is once again steaming up the airwaves across the United States. She has already sold more than 30 million albums worldwide in Spanish and English, and has electrified fans with her swiveling hips. About to embark on a new world tour, the 29-year-old Colombian-born singer speaks candidly with ABC News correspondent Chris Connelly about her behind-the-scenes struggles and extraordinary rise from a sleepy port city in South America to the top of worldwide music charts. Shakira also opens up about maintaining control of her career -- unlike many pop stars, she writes or co-writes her own songs, produces her own records, and even puts on her own makeup. "I like to be the captain of my own ship," she tells Connelly.
And: Jon Bon Jovi and the band that bears his name have sold a hundred million albums and continue to fill stadiums worldwide. So how did a kid of meager beginnings become one of the most successful musical acts of all time? Bon Jovi takes "20/20" back to his childhood home in New Jersey, where he swept floors to make money in high school, to explain how a young boy with a dream used focus and fierce determination to overcome naysayers and make it to the top. "I was told from the time I was a young kid… 'you don't have what it takes. You don't have the strength to persevere,'" he tells "20/20's" JuJu Chang. "I think it comes down to desire ... You have to want it so bad that it hurts… Once you get there, that's just the beginning ... Anybody can make one record. When you're around for 20 years and 25 years, that's work." During the far-reaching interview, he also talks about marrying his high school sweetheart, how becoming a father changed him and how he has kept his band together all of these years.
Also: Rogelio Garcia Junior, a 25-year-old graduate of MIT, his sister Adriana, 24 and in a management training program, and their brother, Angel, who is a sophomore at San Jose State, are typical American kids living the American dream. But there's nothing typical about how these three young adults, born to Mexican immigrants, came to live prosperous lives. As ABC News' Jim Avila reports, their parents, Yolanda and Rogelio Garcia Senior, have supported their family by picking through garbage, collecting more than eight million cans and bottles over the years to help put their children through college.
Plus, from the Miracle Mop to Huggable Hangers, Joy Mangano has made a fortune believing in herself and her ideas, becoming one of the hottest stars to hit the home television shopping network. She tells Deborah Roberts how she went from the daily struggle of being a single mom supporting three kids to becoming an inventor with the most successful product in the history of the Home Shopping Network -- with almost 100 million sales of the Huggable Hanger.
Plus: Bob Brown profiles a young man with a spirit as generous as his talent. Kyle Maynard was born a congenital amputee, a condition which has no known cause and may affect fingers or a limb, but which rarely affects all four limbs, as it did with Kyle. Yet Kyle didn't let his condition keep him from becoming a winning high school wrestler, good enough to compete in his state championships.
Finally: John Stossel asks -- What can the rest of us learn from these achievers that might help us fulfill our own dreams?