Marco Antonio Muñiz (born September 16, 1968), known professionally as Marc Anthony, is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. A four-time Grammy Award and eight-time Latin Grammy Award winner, he has sold more than 12 million albums worldwide. Known for his Latin salsa numbers and ballads, Anthony has won numerous awards and his achievements have been honored through various recognitions. He was the recipient of the 2009 Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) Lifetime Achievement Award. He also received the “2009 CHCI Chair’s Lifetime Achievement Award” on September 16, 2009. He holds the Guinness World Record for best-selling tropical/salsa artist and the most number-one albums on the Billboard Tropical Albums year-end charts. He is also the artist with the most number one songs on the Billboard Latin Tropical Airplay chart with 32 songs.

Marco Antonio Muñiz was born in New York City, the son of Puerto Rican parents. His father, Felipe Muñiz, was a hospital cafeteria worker and musician, and his mother, Guillermina Quiñones, was a housewife.

Anthony’s parents named him after Mexican singer Marco Antonio Muñiz. Anthony grew up in East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or El Barrio, and is the youngest of eight children. He was raised Roman Catholic.

His musical education began at home, where he learned to sing in both Spanish and English under the guidance of his father, Felipe, himself a professional guitarist. As a child, Anthony listened to a variety of musical genres and performers, including rock, rhythm and blues, pop stars José Feliciano (Puerto Rico), Air Supply (Australia), as well as salsa legends Héctor Lavoe (Puerto Rico), Willie Colón (United States), and Rubén Blades (Panama), among others. According to Anthony, renowned Puerto Rican percussionist and bandleader Tito Puente in particular wielded a profound personal and professional influence throughout his life.

Anthony began his career as a session vocalist for freestyle music and underground New York house music acts. After changing his name to avoid confusion with his namesake,[13] Anthony worked as a songwriter and backing vocalist for pop acts Menudo and the Latin Rascals.Unlike the more socially conscious New York salsa musicians of the 1960s and 1970s, or the highly produced “romantic” salsa artists of the 1980s, Anthony gained fame performing a salsa style that borrowed more heavily from the African American and urban genres that he listened to growing up, such as rhythm and blues and house.

His first album was a freestyle music record, “Rebel”, which debuted in 1988 on Bluedog Records. That same year he wrote and produced “Boy I’ve Been Told” for fellow freestyle artist Sa-Fire. Then in 1989, he sang backup vocals for Ann-Marie on the freestyle club hit, “With or Without You” produced by Little Louie Vega and Todd Terry. A year later in 1990, with Little Louie Vega and Todd Terry, Marc wrote a duet with Chrissy I-eece, called “You Should Know By Now”. In 1992, still working with Todd Terry, he provided vocals for “Love Change”, which is on the flip-side of a 12″ vinyl released by Elan and The Powermachine titled “Here’s Your Hat”, production of Todd Terry. At the same time, he collaborated with music producer Little Louie Vega, who featured the singer on many freestyle-flavored club hits “Ride On The Rhythm” and the “When The Night Is Over” album, which featured the freestyle classic “Time.” In 1992, Vega and Anthony opened for Latin bandleader Tito Puente at New York’s Madison Square Garden. After 1992, he changed his style from freestyle to salsa and other Latin styles.