Mark Anthony (54) is one of the kings of Latin music for several decades now. Born in New York and of Puerto Rican roots, the talented artist -who is currently expecting his first child with the Paraguayan model Nadia Ferreira (24) – has very well earned his crown as king of rhythm and salsa. However, this was not always the genre in which he excelled.
In fact, at the beginning of his career, Mark Anthony He was not even familiar with salsa and Latin rhythms, so much so that the author of “Vivir la vida” was at the other extreme of tropical music and in Spanish. And although the artist never completely abandoned English -at least in some of his most recent songs, already in the world of salsa-, his beginnings as a singer showed a little-known (and already practically forgotten) facet of artist.
This was the little-remembered and almost unprecedented beginnings of Marc Anthony in his musical career
In its current and most popular version, it was hand in hand with john gabriel that Mark Anthony entered the salsa-driven, Spanish-language Latino art scene. However, the new husband of Nadia Ferreira He took his first steps on the scene with a genre, to say the least, surprising for the Marc Anthony we all know today: rap.
In fact, the adolescent and early youth dream of Mark Anthony it was to be a popular and well-known rapper, one of the most popular and successful urban rhythms in the United States. And, as with the most popular artists in the genre, his goal was to reach the top of the American rap scene singing in English, basically the mother tongue of this genre.
But still young Mark Anthony met the mexican john gabriel, one of the great icons and emblems of Latin music. And it was the influence of this legend – who passed away in 2016 – that ended up giving the singer of “La Gozadera” the push to encourage him to speak the language of his roots, Spanish. And we already know the rest of the story.