The many faces of Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony performs live during the Juntos Tour concert at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. (Aug. 9, 2006) Credit: Getty Images
At first, Marc Anthony was just a salsa singer. His father, a musician, named him after the Mexican pop star Marco Antonio Muñiz, and his first album, 1991's "When the Night Is Over," had a rhythmic pulse that combined American hip-hop with Puerto Rican dance music.
But over the past 20 years, Anthony - who opens his North American tour Friday night at Madison Square Garden - has diversified. "I'm not a salsa singer who wants to sing in English, and I'm not this American kid who wants to sing Spanish," he said in a New York Times interview earlier this year. "My thing is music, period."
Actually, Anthony has branched well beyond music, taking roles in movies and TV shows and transforming himself into a worldwide brand of style and affluence. He and his wife, Jennifer Lopez, recently shot a fashion campaign for Gucci with their 2-year-old twins, and he always, always looks cool in shades.
Here are some other faces of Marc Anthony:
HE'S A BRONX NATIVE
Anthony's father, Felipe Muñiz, a musician who held three jobs to keep his family afloat, would prop 5-year-old Marc on a table during parties in the late '70s and they would sing "El Zorsal," "Hidos de la Mente" and other standards together.
HE'S A BALLADEER
Anthony's latest album, "Iconos," collects romantic songs he sang with his father so many years ago - such as Jose Jose's "Almohada" and Jose Luis Perales' "Y Como Es El." He recorded the entire album in two and a half days.
HE'S STILL A SALSA SINGER
He plans to put out another salsa album by the end of the year. "That time has come," he told The Associated Press. "We have the pot on the stove and we're getting the ingredients together to cook that salsa."
HE'S HUSBAND OF J.LO
They married in June 2004, and the couple had twins in February 2008.
HE'S A BOHEMIAN
When Lopez moved into Anthony's mansion in Brookville, they hired Thom Filicia, the designer from "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," to combine their interior-design styles. "She's glamorous, and I'm earthy," Anthony told Vogue Living in 2006. She immediately expanded the closets.
HE'S A COLLECTOR
On display at Anthony's mansion, according to Vogue Living, are weirdly elegant objects like a 19th-century deep-sea-diver's helmet (in the dining room) and old Puerto Rican cannonballs (in the bathroom).
HE'S A COP
In two recent episodes of TNT's "HawthoRNe," starring Jada Pinkett Smith, Anthony plays a tough cop investigating a kidnapping. And he falls for Smith's character, Christina.
HE'S THE 'LATIN FRANK SINATRA'
Or so his salsa producer, Sergio George, told The Times earlier this year, due to Anthony's "big, emotive voice."
HE'S A BROODING, SINISTER HUSBAND
As Samuel Ramos, father of Dakota Fanning's kidnapped 9-year-old Pita in 2004's "Man On Fire," Anthony manages to counterbalance Denzel Washington's intense ex-CIA agent investigator.
HE'S PART OWNER OF THE MIAMI DOLPHINS
"We're building a huge lounge, like a club atmosphere with food, music," Anthony recently told Billboard. "We're revamping all the music that's played in the [Sun Life] stadium, the sound system and the video content."
HE'S AN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Anthony has sold 11 million albums worldwide.
WHO Marc Anthony
WHAT TO EXPECT The show will include songs from his new all-ballad album, "Iconos," including "Abrazame" and "Y Como Es El." He'll also perform his greatest hits in English and Spanish.
WHEN | WHERE 8 p.m. Friday, Madison Square Garden. Find available tickets.
