Puerto Rican heartthrob Marc Anthony came to mainstream attention during the Latin Explosion of the mid-90's. But if Ricky Martin was the pop star and Enrique Iglesias was the romantic one, Anthony was the musical one. A wiry man with intense eyes, Anthony has recorded some of the most successful genre-crossing music to climb the Billboard pop charts. Anthony grew up in New York City at the peak of the city's freestyle years. Due largely to the number of Puerto Rican and other South American immigrants, Latin music has always been popular in New York and in the 80's Latin artists began picking up an electric hip hop and house music influence while using Latin traditional rhythms and beats. Anthony was undeniably talented, and he joined the prestigious Freestyle Music collective at the start of his career. This gave him the opportunity to sing backup for huge acts like Menudo, Sa-Fire and Ann-Marie. With fellow Freestyle artist Lou Vega, he opened for Tito Puente in a packed Madison Square Garden. In '92, Anthony left the Freestyle beats-though he would always retain an ear for sophisticated production-and changed his sound to more traditional salsa. His Spanish-language debut, Otra Nota, had a big hit with his salsamonga cover of "Hasta Tu No Te Fueras." Marc Anthony's fan base grew as he released several Spanish albums, but it wasn't til 1999's English-language Marc Anthony that he rose to national attention with his anguished, electric single "I Need To Know." He also had a hit with the tender "You Sang To Me." Anthony has carried on a tempestuous relationship with Jennifer Lopez, both pop stars marrying and divorcing, then finally returning to each other's arms. Marc Anthony is also developing a reputation for himself as a character actor and has appeared in small rolls in several critically acclaimed films including Carlito's Way, Man On Fire and Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead.