Marc Anthony

Marc Anthony, born Marco Antonio Muñiz on September 16, 1968, in New York City, is an American singer and actor of Puerto Rican descent. He is known professionally by the stage name Marc Anthony, adopted to avoid confusion with his namesake, the Mexican singer Marco Antonio Muñiz, after whom his parents named him. The youngest of eight children, Anthony grew up in East Harlem and was raised Catholic. His father, Felipe Muñiz, worked as a hospital cafeteria worker and was also a professional guitarist, and his mother, Guillermina Quiñones, was a housewife. Anthony's musical education began at home under his father's guidance, where he learned to sing in both Spanish and English. Among the artists who shaped his early listening were José Feliciano, Air Supply, Héctor Lavoe, Willie Colón, Rubén Blades, and Tito Puente, the last of whom Anthony has cited as a particularly significant personal and professional influence.

Anthony appeared on Broadway in 1968 in The Happy Time. His stage work preceded a recording career that would establish him as the top-selling salsa artist of all time, a distinction recognized by the Guinness World Record for best-selling tropical/salsa artist. He also holds the Guinness record for the most number-one albums on the Billboard Tropical Albums year-end charts and has accumulated the most number-one songs on the Billboard Latin Tropical Airplay chart, with 32 entries.

Anthony began his professional music career as a session vocalist for freestyle and underground New York house music acts. He worked as a songwriter and backing vocalist for Menudo and the Latin Rascals before releasing his first album, Rebel, a freestyle record, in 1988 on Bluedog Records. That same year he wrote and produced the song Boy I've Been Told for freestyle artist Sa-Fire. In 1989 he sang backup vocals for Ann-Marie on the freestyle club track With or Without You, produced by Little Louie Vega and Todd Terry. His collaborations with Vega continued through the early 1990s, including the freestyle hits Ride on the Rhythm and tracks from the When the Night Is Over album. In 1992, Vega and Anthony opened for Tito Puente at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Anthony was initially reluctant to transition to salsa, declining an early offer from Ralph Mercado, president of RMM Records. His decision changed after hearing Juan Gabriel's Hasta Que Te Conocí, which prompted him to ask Mercado if he could record it as a salsa track. His Spanish-language debut, Otra Nota, was released in 1993 and included a cover of Bread's Make It with You alongside original material. Subsequent touring throughout the Americas, including an opening slot for Rubén Blades, helped establish Anthony as a leading new voice in salsa. His 1995 follow-up, Todo a Su Tiempo, earned him a Billboard Award for Hot Tropical Artist of the Year and was certified gold in both the United States and Puerto Rico. The album was also nominated for a Grammy and included songs such as Hasta Ayer and Llegaste a Mi. In 1994, he appeared on La India's album Dicen Que Soy on the track Vivir Lo Nuestro.

His next Spanish-language album, Contra La Corriente, was followed by the HBO television special Marc Anthony: The Concert from Madison Square Garden, broadcast on Valentine's Day in 2000, which received a TV Guide nomination for Music Special of the Year. The song Y Hubo Alguien from that album became his first number-one single on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks and the first number-one by a salsa musician on that chart. The trio of albums Otra Nota, Todo a Su Tiempo, and Contra La Corriente collectively established him as the top-selling singer in the history of the salsa genre.

Anthony recorded the duet No Me Ames with Jennifer Lopez for her album On the 6 and contributed the duet I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You with Tina Arena to the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro, written by James Horner. In 1999 he released a self-titled English-language album, working with producers Walter Afanasieff, Cory Rooney, Dan Shea, and Rodney Jerkins. The album debuted at number eight on the Billboard album chart, was certified triple platinum, and produced the US Top 5 single I Need to Know, which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. His song You Sang to Me was featured in the film Runaway Bride. In 2001 he released the salsa album Libre, which was certified gold and spent 14 weeks at number one on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. A second English-language album, Mended, followed in 2002.

In June 2004 Anthony released the Latin pop album Amar Sin Mentiras, followed the next month by Valio La Pena, which presented the same material in a salsa arrangement. At the 2005 Latin Grammy Awards, Amar Sin Mentiras won Best Latin Pop Album of the Year and Valio La Pena won Best Tropical Album of the Year. The duet Escapémonos with Jennifer Lopez was performed at the 2005 Grammy Awards. A Spanish greatest-hits album, Sigo Siendo Yo, was released on July 11, 2006. In May 2010 he released Iconos, a tribute to songs by artists including José Luis Perales, Juan Gabriel, and José José. In 2012 Anthony was inducted into the Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame.

As of 2014, Anthony had sold more than 12 million albums worldwide. His awards include four Grammy Awards, eight Latin Grammy Awards, and twenty-nine Lo Nuestro Awards, the most won by any male artist. In 2009 he received both the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Lifetime Achievement Award and the CHCI Chair's Lifetime Achievement Award, the latter presented on September 16, 2009.