Marc Anthony: Aguanile

Picture this. It's summer, New York City. All the windows of your apartment are open. While you're trying to fight off that relentless heat. In the distance, you hear the sound of music blasting from someone's car speakers. You know who they're.

Playing to, Alipa.

What part of the city do you live in? Okay, bad, bunny, warm, but not quite Try a different genre, a little more on theme for today's episode.

Okay, but how is from La bar Radia?

Not on theme with me, Joseph, It's Verano. We're in New York City. Mark Anthony da Than, otherwise known as Marco Anton, the proud Puerto Rican singer that changed the music game and salsa as we know.

It, Born and raised in New York to the rhythm of the trumpet, the double bass, and the gongas.

Named one of the best singers of all time by Rolling Stone. Mind you iconic if you ask me, we only know who Mark is. But I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that most of us aren't quite as familiar with how he actually got here. And it tracks because how a man that keeps such a low profile manage to transcend to the iconic, How did he become a household name Jada recognized around the.

Globe and why does the eye all that genius find those damn aviators.

Today, we're looking back on his humble beginnings before all the Grammys to uncover the secret to his success.

From his start as a backup vocalist for hire to being one of the most in demand touring acts of all time.

We'll also explore how Mark managed to make salsa a universal sound that has the whole world dancing.

So get your dancing shoes on, because we're looking back on the phenomenal career of one of the best, Mark Anthony.

I'm your host, Liliana Oscuez and I'm Joseph Carrio and this is Becoming an icon a weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on how today's most famous latinv stars have shaped pop culture.

And given the world some extra tubble.

Sit back and get comfortable.

Because we are going in the only way we know how, with buenas vis.

Buenasriesas and a lot of opinions as we relive their greatest achievements on our journey to find out what makes them so iconic. Okay, so before you dive into your Walter mcgado persona. Let the listeners know where we're recording today in New Yo, which is so appropriate for the artist we're going to be talking about today. Tell me a bit about your relationship with Mark Anthony.

Okay, well, you've never been romantically involved that I know.

Of your impressions of him before we started researching and planning for these episodes.

Oh, he's an amazing singer. Facts. I know he sings salsa and I saw him in the movie in.

The Heights for like one second.

That's that's That's what I That's what happened.

That's all. Is that prior to recording this and prior to researching the show, that is all you knew of Mark?

Like, I knew he had a very sexy voice. I knew he was married to j Lo, I knew he was very skinny.

Yes, Now, when was the first time you heard Mark? Not heard of? Like, what was the first song that brought you into Mark Anthony as an artist?

Oh, my gosh, really really it would be Viva Me Viva, Like I never knew anything about him honestly before what I know, but my parents didn't listen to this music.

See you bring up such an interesting point. So Joseph recap for our listeners that have not been listening the whole time here you I know, I can't believe we have listeners that have not listened to the podcast from day one. But in case you're new, here here's a little background. I am half Mexican and half Puerto Rican.

And I am all Mexican from Wednesday.

And I'm so happy that you are so honest about your experience with salza because sometimes I think that non Latinos put all Latinos in the same box musically, culturally, language meet lit and you think that, oh, all Latin music is just Latin music. Yes, I know there's a Latin Grammys, but on the Latin Grammys there are so many categories, and salsa is very different than reggaeton, then mambo,

I was gonna say that because it was not my parents' music. You know, I knew Celia Cruz. And when it's so funny that you're saying New York, New York salsa is so fucking New York, it's crazy they play it everywhere. But I never grew up to that sound.

And I think what you're talking about specifically, and we're going to get into this anyone that is new to salsa, or new to Mark Anthony or just kind of finding this podcast because they want to uncover a little bit more about Latin music. We're starting in a really good place. There's this real distance divide in like elder salsa and salsa as we know it now perfected by Mark Anthony. So Elder Salsa for you guys listening, that is the sound of Hector Levo, Willi Colonne, Celia Cruz. Those are

Can I do my bit now?

Please go crazy?

Cue the music? Mm hmmm, yes, yes, I see it all. He was born September sixteenth, nineteen sixty eight. What excuse. He's a virgo and his moon is in cancer. Please hold I'm tapping into the universe and to my cranial sacral therapy. Okay, he's observant and realistic, but he's also got a little bit of mystery to him those fucking glasses. He also can be surprisingly nurturing and soft.

I get sweet.

It checks out just listen to those lyrics.

And he's always been in touch with that more sensitive, sensual side of his. I mean he just got married again for the fourth time, and he has a type y'all, beauty queens He just got married again to former Miss Paraguay, Nadia Ferre.

Mark has a thing for the beauty quaints and she's.

Gorgina tomorrow a word from Joseph like she's stunning. And he was in tears when he saw her walking down the aisle. It was almost as if he'd never been married before. Were like, Mark, you've been here, buddy, three times. But whatever, she took his breath away and brought him to tears.

Listen, at least he puts a ring on it. We got to respect it.

But before we get into any of his many romantic relationships, because you know, I'm always down to chat about those, let's first focus on the artistry. He's been named the top selling tropical salza artist of all time, holding the most number one songs on the Billboard Latin Tropical airplay. Can you guess how many sixteen m double it?

I don't do math very well.

That's thirty two.

Oh he knows how it makes some hit. At thirty two.

With over twelve million albums sold worldwide, you can't picture salsa without him, his face and those aviators popping up in your head.

Which, to be honest, it gets very weird. If you're listening to his balance in the shower or wonderful. It kind of depends on you as real.

It back Joseph and I wonder if our listeners are thinking the same thing that we were thinking when we started to talk about Mark Anthony. How did it all start?

Mark Anthony was born Marco Antonio Monice. His namesake was the Mexican.

Singer who was born and raised in Halisco. But that Marco spent a lot of time on a very special island in the Caribbean.

Dam Girl, Puerto Ricosta. Alla.

I mean, there is a reason the hottest artist in the world right now is bad Money.

Okay, now you really back?

And Girl, by the way, if you haven't listened to those episodes, go back, but not right now. Finish this episode and then go back.

Okay.

So let's talk about the Mexican singer. So he would travel to the Garibe Hilton Hotel in San Juan to perform so much, it's almost like he had a Vegas residency. But in San Juan. It was around the during the sixties and seventies that the saltsa boom really caught fire, and he loved it so much that he never wanted to leave, often performing salsa with live bands to the hotel crowd.

So it's almost like Mark Anthony's parents manifested his singing career just by naming their kid after him.

His parents definitely set up baby Mark for a bright future, whether they knew it at the time or not. His father, Felippe Munize, worked at a hospital cafeteria, but he was also a talented musician.

I love me a side gig moment. I mean my facial sculpting, okay.

His mother, geyerm Nakignonez, on the other hand, was a housewife. According to Mark, he says that growing up he was a pain in the ass to his mom. To his dad, though baby Mark was the light of his eyes. But Mark says he was an awkward kid. They raised him in East Harlem aka Spanish Harlem ak El Barrio, and he was the youngest of eight.

Children, giving strong Bruno mars.

Vibes now, I want him to clab wait a second, though Brunito got it from him. Respetos okay. But like Brunito, Mark's love for music began at home, except Mark learned how to sing in both Spanish and English. His father was a professional guitarist and had dreams of being a great musician. But he had bills to pay and a family to take care of, so he passed down everything he knew to Mark.

His father also learned from some of the best teachers out there, Osse Felicianovo, Willie Cologne and Rubin Blades.

Wait personally, well, no.

But these were the artise. Thus he grew up with listening to blasting in the house. He may have been in Spanish Harlem, but this music took him from Puerto Rico to the sunny shores of Panama and beyond. Wait.

Wait, there is one musician you forgot to mention in that list. Tito Puente, elre de los Timballes, or just for simplicity's sake, el Re fellow Puerto Rican t nol.

You mean Hella famous fellow Puerto Rican musician.

Thank you for correcting me. I need to put some respect on that name, okay. So Tito was known for his dance oriented mambo and Afro Cuban jazz compositions. Think of him as the godfather of Latin jazz.

Oh, so he take care of the competition, a you know what I mean?

No, no, no, not like that. He was called the mambo King often, but his music paved the way for the salsa we listened to now. He helped popularize the cha cha cha, mambo and salsa, celebrating the music and rhythm of his Caribbean heritage, inspiring countless other artists like Mark.

Sansa as the sound has evolved so much since the.

Nineteenth pies, hell since the nineteen twenties when it actually first began to emerge. According to a few musicologists at the core, salsa combines the rhythms of Cuba and Puerto Rico with influences from jazz, R and B, and yes, even rock.

It mixes in a little bit of everything. You've got some mumbo, a.

Little bomba plena. Bands identifying as sadza groups started to emerge in New York City in the seventies, composed of both Cuban and Puerto Rican players. So while salza was born elsewhere, much like reggaeton, it was latinos here in New York that breathed new life into the genre.

It became a genre thanks to.

The city and of course thanks to elre Diente. But going back to Mark's relationship with his dad for a second. Do you want to know the most important lesson he taught young Mark.

Oh, always put down the seat.

What No? But also yes, or you're never divided to my house.

Okay, spell it.

You're gonna die, like you know how, I'm brutally honest, Like I will tell you hod on.

Y'all if y'all don't fucking know her for real. She is brutally it's bad, but she's your friend. She loves you.

Okay, so take that and take it to like another level.

Okay, say it.

He said to Mark son, we're ugly, work on your personality.

Shut your butt. No, he did not say that to his kid.

Yeah, and now I cannot speak to how Mark felt at that very moment.

Imagine being called ugly by your dad as a kid, and he's still talking about a girl that is real trauma. Come get that cranial sake, Wrell therapy.

I mean, I have like trauma adjacent syndrome. Like I'm traumatized by that statement. And I'm a mom and like my kid could look like a kukaracha and he would be and feel like he was the most beautiful thing ever put on this planet Earth. But here's the thing. Mark didn't see it like that. During an interview with CBS, Mark shared that it was actually the best thing his dad could have told him. Mark recognized his weakness. He was awkward, he stuttered, but when he sang, it all

Marquito't embraced that. It got to the point where if he could sing instead of just talking to you, he would.

Soon enough, Anthony had figured out what he was meant to do with his life.

Become a wolfam a salsa singer.

Actually not yet. First he was going to become a Latin freestyle hit maker.

Yo, the eighties are a whack neon everything, teased hair, the hideous fashion.

But the eighties is the same decade that brought you and I into the world. And you cannot call the music of the eighties whack. Madonna, Michael Jackson, Whitney, Plus we can't talk eighties and not mention menudo. I mean they were my everything. And back then they were covering ABBA's bulevou while teenage Mark Anthony was busting his ass singing jingles and backup vocals for.

Free, Free Bitch.

I would never I know, but you know, we all have to start somewhere. And you know what is surprising.

How this man's been able to bag so many baddies.

That he didn't want to be a salsa singer.

Okay, plot twist of the century. What did he want to do then?

Vocalist for freestyle music?

You mean so sa? Nope?

Mark Anthony started in Latin freestyle.

And what is that for the kiddos?

And w okay? So freestyle is a form of electronic dance music eightym sea kids. I might be old, but I'm still.

With it anyway. It emerged in New York and Philly, bringing together both Latino and Italian American communities in the eighties.

Does the name Lisa Lisa ring a bell? She is like a freestyle icon?

Oh my god. Yes, she was wondering if she could take you home with her and if that would change your mind of how you saw her. I mean, it was really scandalous.

Mark Anthony started his career with underground New York house music acts, but he eventually worked his way into pop. Often he was collaborating with groups like Manudl and the Latin Rascals. It was also around this time that he switched up his name from Madicle to Mark to avoid any confusion with the other.

Right the ones that by the beach.

He wanted to make a name for himself, but that's not easy when another singer already has your exact name.

Thanks Mammy, Pappy, Mark Anthony.

Honestly, though, he was still getting great opportunities now that he was more focused on songwriting and singing back up.

Why is he singing backup with those pipes?

Great question. It turns out that he didn't believe he had the stage presence to be a front man from the start, and all of that were ugly talk from his dad probably didn't help either.

That's very Selena Gomez of him, because Confienza.

That's right, that's right. Because, by the way, if you are going to be a front man.

Or front woman, I would do that too.

Though, Joseph, Joseph, there is no situation that you were in the background.

I do want to tell you something. I'm being very honest I would because I really like to learn, Like I assisted. I assisted Pat McGrath, and it was truly just to learn what she was doing, how she so great? What are these great people doing? And I want to develop a skill myself that's all my own, but I need someone to show me.

Yeah, because you have such main character energy, you know what I mean. But I could see what you're saying. And I think Mark and Selena both kind of took a step back to then take a giant leap.

It was easier to lend his voice and lyrics, gain the experience, and then eventually step into spotlight.

He made vital connections this way, and soon enough when he felt ready to move from back up to lead, he had the confidence and the charisma.

Plus he had the stacked rolodex from all the people he was working for.

Do people know what a rolodex is? Kids? Again, with the rolodex, it was basic, a way of keeping people's contacts in like a spinning container.

I get, no, don't don't even like an artifact. Let's go back to Mark too much, Go back back to Mark, bitch.

Mark Anthony, with his stacked rolodex, was willing to do the work and it paid off. He released his debut single, Rebel in nineteen eighty eight under Blue Dog Records.

And no, it wasn't Suldsa.

Lyrically, Rebel was very much his version of Michael Jackson's Bad.

Okay, I have to say it. We know Mark clearly didn't struggle to find work after this record, but this song was hashtag forgettable. Here's the thing.

It's very of the eighties. Well it is, so there's that. That's a positive. I love eighties music, Okay, okay, And again like Mark does no wrong. Okay, Well, he maybe made one error, which we'll get to later in this episode, but not a song that's gonna bring you into the Mark Anthony universe. He'd be like, like you said, forgettable, right. And in nineteen eighty eight, he also wrote and produced A Boy I've Been Told for another freestyle artist, Wilma Cosme, also known as Safeede Boy.

What okay? This episode is turning into the kind of history lesson I wish we learned in high school.

You're telling me. Wilma or Safiede was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but she grew up in East Harlem, just like our boy Mark Anthony.

It's insane how much of music history involving marginalized communities is just ignored.

They both started out as session vocalist.

This industry is all about networking, it sure is.

And over the next few years he's sang backup for Anne Marie, produced with notable DJs like Little Louis Vega, who happened to be not only Puerto Rican but also the nephew of renowned salsa singer Hector Levo. Vega asked Mark to join on tracks as a featured art artist.

And they were all club hits.

Especially right on the Rhythm and When the Night Is Over, from his nineteen ninety one album.

Mark's rising fame in the freestyle scene got the attention of very important people in the Latin scene, including someone he had listened to growing up.

By nineteen ninety two, Mark Anthony was invited to be an opening act at Madison Square Garden in New York City for none other.

Than Ito Gente. This is msg the world's most famous arena. Histor ree lives in those walls, and.

In nineteen ninety two, Mark Anthony had the opportunity to add to that. He opened for Tito alongside little Louis Vega at Madison Square Garden and Mark was forever changed.

His freestyle days were over and it was all about salsa. Now.

We won't get into the full history of salsa. We've given you some great names to google and a little bit of the difference between elder salsa and the salsa that you know now. And it really started to evolve around the early nineties because back in the fifties and sixties,

Radical when they opened the door first started, it's a heavyweights like Willie Colonne, se La Cruz and Hector Laon legends.

But it wasn't until the seventies that the term salsa itself was actually introduced.

Well, its origins were Caribbean af it really turned into the genre that encompassed Latin America as a whole.

And up until the eighties, salsa had focused its attention on the instruments instead of the vocals. In the eighties, though, that's when we hear romantic sansasa sounds so good when you say it. Romantic salsa itself became especially popular in the nineties thanks to Mark Anthony exactly. Mark drew inspiration from romantic sansa for his own music, but he added his own touch by mixing it with what his contemporaries were doing in R and B, house and hip.

Hop, and many salsa purists couldn't stand it.

They felt like he was changing the genre that didn't need to be altered. And you know what, there's always this battle between the old guard and the new guard. But I'm going to take it back to one of my favorite films of all time, La La Land. Do you remember when John Legend's character is telling him in the film, listen, Ryan Gosling, if you love jazz so much, it's got to evolve as a genre, otherwise it'll die. And that's the same battle that was happening with salsa

He initially had approached Anthony to make a salsa album, but Mark had said gracias, spittle, no gracias.

It wasn't until that night with Tito Puente that he was convinced. Well, that and a song blaring from a taxi.

And that was Juan Gabriel's, and then it all clicked.

He realized there was room for him to thrive in this space in his own style. Also, Wanga Forever. That man is a fucking legend, and that song is like when he sings that song, that is somebody singing from their heart, from like deep in their soul.

So our boy called up Ralph Mercado and said, please forgive me. I didn't know what I was saying, Let's do the effing record.

I don't think those were the exact words, but whatever he said, Mercado didn't hesitate because there was no time to waste. Mark released his Spanish language debut Otota in nineteen ninety three. Mark covered Wangabriel's song Asked to get the Guanosi as a salsa song, and from there through the rest of the album.

Serchio George, the producer of the record, described it as a total experiment.

They literally had zero budget and had to record one musician at a time.

They didn't even have.

A band podcast kind of He has very bare bones, inspired by the artist he grew up with. Ota was a strong day. Everyone quickly understood that Mark meant business. He then went on to open for Ruben Bladies.

After opening for the Panamanian singer, word of mouth intensified.

Just within the early nineties, he had sold more salsa records than any other musician or performer on the planet.

This new kid on the block had become one of the most important artists of the salsa canon.

But there was someone else rising up with him. In nineteen ninety four, Mark Anthony was featured on La India's album Decent Gessoi. La India aka Linda Vieira Gaballerro is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter.

Both Mark and her were coming up in the salsa scene, so they did what any fresh newcomers would do, collaborate expand their audiences.

The track was called Vivir le Nuestro. It's an iconic ballad of wanting to be together without fear, to live a passionate love affair.

This song is a must play at any carnesada or salsa club.

Both of them sang this live when it first came out. Mark was rocking his long cardly locks. He was also in his vest phase and Latindia was wearing the sparkliest get up.

They took the stage and filled it up with their voices, their passion for this sound, and they were accompanied by an orchestra that took the performance to the next level.

Both Mark and India had grown up listening to salsa, but they had related it to their parents. It wasn't considered cool, which of course is what led them to house music and Latin freestyle. But now thanks to them, latinos in their twenties were bonding with their parents over the music they were making.

It was bringing generations together.

Here's what Mark Anthony said about that during the house era, you'd have the radio on and your mom or dad would be yelling, kita vessol, turn that noise off. But now with the new music, they ask you to turn it up. That's really something. This is music we can listen to with.

Our parents, and the industry agreed.

Mark Anthony's nineteen ninety five album Tholoas with Temple won him the Billboard Award for Hot Tropical Artists of the Year. The album also earned him a nomination for a Grammy.

And it was all these successes that led him to future WiFi j Lo.

The two recorded their duet Nomamis for her album on the six, helping her with her Spanish language crossover. Remember, Mark started a career in English and successfully switched over to Spanish. He was doing what Jaylo wanted. Who could have been a better mentor.

Well, just go back and listen to our Jalo episode and then return to us.

Anyways, Jlo and Mark didn't get together immediately. They worked together and then went on their separate ways.

The news originally got out thanks to Ralph Mercado, that Mark was recording an English album, but Mark was like, Yo, why did you tell him that I'm never recording salsa in English?

Okay, truthfully, it wasn't really a never gonna happen situation. He just wanted to do it when he felt ready. And by this time there was also legal drama going on between the two. Mark and Megado had a couple of disputes over Megadalo's business practices because Mark suspected he wasn't receiving the money he was owed. And that's when Tommy Mantola stepped.

In chaw not this guy again.

Well, in this scenario, he actually helped Mark out. Medgado wasn't allowing Anthony to leave r MM Records because he said he was still owed four more albums per Anthony's contract. Read the contracts, y'all. Matola then approached Anthony and offered him a contract with Columbia Records to record an English album during this peak crossover period. Medgado then stepped in again and was like, nafam, you can't do that. So Mark sued him and Medgago countersued. It was messy, but

Best, and I Need to Know was released.

First of all, I think we need to talk about the life that we were living when this song came out. So it came out in nineteen ninety nine. It was released on August sixteenth, and I Need to Know was the album's lead single. Of course it was. It's one of the best songs, but it's for me such it cemented the Latin explosion I hate that way, Okay, it cemented it. And this was obviously written by Anthony and Rooney, and it's just got that like violin riff at the

I wonder if it was originally written in English.

Respect it was originally written in English. The song I Need to Know was released in English first. Then the song was translated into Spanish, by the way, not by Anthony, but he recorded it and titled it the Milon. And when you listen to them right after another, there's no change, you know. Sometimes it's super cheesy when they like write a song in English and translate it to Spanish or vice versa, and you hear it and you're like, that

And what specific event in the industry caused that?

Come on, say it the Latin Explosion.

Yeah.

In nineteen ninety eight, he received his very first Grammy for Best Latin Tropical Performance for Condra la Coriente, directed, arranged, and produced by Anhel Kucopena. He quickly followed the success with his first ever Latin Grammy for Song of the Year for the melo I Need to Know in two thousand.

It was these back to back wins, the success of the Melo and everything else going on that opened the doors for the Latin Explosion.

The album's song Eubo a Yin became Anthony's first number one single on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks and made him the first salsa musician to do so. The album also became the first salsa album ever to enter the English language Billboard two hundred chart. He had hit after hit with Todasu Tiempo and Condra la Corente.

So he did what any artist.

Would do perform one of the most romantic ballads ever live with his wife at the time, Jela.

The Latin explosion was at full boom.

You think you're so funny, don't you got that boom boom pale. Despite all the experience he had under his belt, Mark Anthony walked into the music scene with all the swagger of a new kid on the block. In two thousand and one, he released another salsa album called Libre and received a gold certification leib It had spent fourteen weeks at number one on the Billboard Top Latin Album's chart.

He followed up with Men, did another English album, and he wouldn't stop, much like Titoente went over one hundred and eighteen projects.

There was Amaersi Mendidas in two thousand and four, a Latin pop album Valio Lapina after that featuring.

Scott Bamonos with Jay Lowe, and these earned him even more awards. He was truly killing the game.

At the two thousand and five Latin Grammy Awards, Amersi Mendidas won Best Latin Pop Album of the Year, while Valola won Best Tropical Album of the Year. But one of our main highlights of the evening was when Lopez and Anthony.

Performed It's Scott Emonos. I feel like I'm entering my Senora era when I say these songs.

They've definitely come a long way from their ons days. Let's just say, now, did you know that that performance at the Grammys was actually their first time performing as a couple.

Like it was a bad The passion was everywhere, like it was a ballad for me.

It was very like opening scene of song I Knew Meets like a Broadway maybe off Broadway production.

You know, in true j low form. It was the most but you know, the chemistry was there, It was undeniable.

It was but I love Jennifer Lopez, like we've dedicated multiple episodes to her career and who she is. But like, girl, why would you voluntarily sing next to that man?

Oh bitch, mistake?

Like maybe Whitney Houston, right, okay, like Celene bon No, Oh my god. When I watched it. You can really see the difference in the singing, the physicality of the singing. Jennifer is like singing for her fucking life. She's like, I ain't going down like this. And she, by the way, she does a good job. But she's singing next to Mark Anthony. Mark Anthony is like just smoked a cigarette before he came out to sing. He was like me, and he's barely opening his mouth. That boy is not

Smith was a Latin order booked up.

Some of us try to be original, and you know, we don't want to be just another dead body on SVU will judge me. But in between it all, in two thousand and seven, he decided to share this newfound side hustle with his then wife.

Mark and Jenny co starred in El Cantante, a biodrama following the life of music legend ect Ravo.

Now, before you come for the film, Joseph, just save it. Okay, don't I know he's literally foaming at the mouth. But for now, let's just say that.

This movie opened a door to a lot of chatter about the co stars.

Many were left wondering if Jalo and Mark were even gonna make it as a couple.

Was this life imitating art or art imitating life?

All that thought that's for next week, Babes. Mark Anthony made history in the music scene thanks to all the artists that came before him, and in.

Next week's episode, Lilsa and I are going to look into Elcantante and how it changed Anthony and Lopez's relationship and their careers.

We're also looking at how Mark strives to give back to the community by paying it.

Forward on the next Becoming an Icon.

Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonoo and Iheart's Michael dudda podcast network. Listen to Becoming an Icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast