Marc Anthony still reaping "Vivir Mi Vida" success

By Fernie Ruano Jr.

 

Marc Anthony was leisurely answering a question about his future recording plans when a fire alarm – complete with a voiceover alerting the hundreds of music executives, aspiring musicians and photographers gathered inside a 19^th floor ballroom of the JW Marquis Marriot in Miami to head for the nearest exit – momentarily jolting the salsa superstar out of his spot next to Billboard Executive Director of Latin Content & Programming, Leila Cobo.

 

“Do we have to go?”, a subdued Anthony asked Cobo as a collective murmur  of indecisiveness and pockets of commotion echoed off the walls as many in the crowd could be heard debating whether to leave the premises, halfway through a Q/A session during Wednesday’s session of the 25^thBillboard Latin Music Conference.

 

But reminiscent to one of his concerts, where he literally controls the crowd’s collective emotional state with merely his presence on stage, it was the engaging and charismatic Anthony, who fired up the room with everything from his pre-show ritual of a “cigarette and beer” to his affinity for Marvin Gaye to the on-going success of “Vivir Mi Vida”, a single which spent 18 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, after its debut at the 2013 Billboard Latin Music Awards. “Vivir” is the longest running No.1 tropical song in the history of the chart.

 

“It (proved) people want good music,” said Anthony, who received 10 Latin Billboard music awards this year on the heels of the Vivir Mi Vida world tour, which made more than 60 stops, according to Billboard Magazine.

 

Last week, Anthony started a second Latin American tour and has another European and U.S. tour slated for the summer.

 

“It’s a blessing; it’s like given me new life. It’s introduced my music to a lot of people.”

 

”Vivir Mi Vida”, an adoption of French/Arabic hit C’est La Vie”, grew on Anthony and his children, Ryan and Christian, during a team brainstorming session in the star’s Long Island home. “I didn’t think much, a simple song,” said Anthony.

 

“But Ryan went crazy – when he heard the song – and went to get his brother, and he couldn’t stop (playing it). When I saw how they loved the song, that’s when the idea was started.”

 

And there’s no kidding around about Anthony’s mission in the Dominican Republic where he recently opened a housing project through his Maestro Cares Foundation to ensure approximately 50 kids sleep in their own bed.

 

"It’s very important to me,” said Anthony.

 

Despite finding touring “taxing” on his body and keeping him “away from my family”, Anthony, who made over 60 stops and sold over a million tickets last year with the “Vivir” tour, according to Cardenas Marketing Network, is prepared to do it all over again in a couple of months. “I do it because I love it.”