Marc Anthony can do anything. He’s a worldwide superstar, songwriter, and even an actor. The only thing he can’t do, it seems, is keep his catchy songs out of our heads. But that’s okay. We’d rather have a Marc Anthony song stuck in our heads than the annoying jingle from that one radio commercial we always hear on the way to work. The Peurto Rican singer is known for more than just his professional career. He’s had a well-publicized love life too. The most important part of it, for our purposes, was his short marriage to and musical collaboration with Jennifer Lopez.

Early Life

Marco was born in New York City, to two Puerto Rican parents. It seems he was destined to be a music legend, as his parents named him for one of their favorite Latin music singers, Marco Antonio Muniz. He started singing as soon as he could carry a tune, which was pretty early on. The voice was there, but his love for performance wasn’t. To develop it, he spent his teen and early adult years singing backup for groups like the Latin Rascals and Menudo. Once he was more confident on the stage, he changed his name to Marc Anthony (from Marco Antonio) to avoid confusion with the aforementioned singer.

Career Success

Marc had made himself some lucrative contacts through singing backup, which helped when he put out his first album, Rebel. It came out in 1988 through Bluedog Records, an independent group based in the Bronx. His first big taste of success was when he was invited to open for Tito Puente at Madison Square Garden – you can imagine his excitement.

In 1993 he released Otra Nota, which was the album that helped him break through to the public consciousness and start selling records. And all his records have continued to sell well, except for the two he made in English. To that, we say – stick to what you’re good at, which is el canto.