Gigantes Tour: The Latin fever in SA continues

MARC ANTHONY
Unlike his famous former flame Jennifer López, singer-actor Marc Anthony has solid musical credentials. By the time he released his first (and best) salsa album (1993’s Otra nota) he was already established as an English-language dance-oriented Nuyorican. He was looked upon with suspicion by the old timers when he switched to salsa, but with time his pipes earned him well-deserved credibility. However, he then moved to pop and is now known more as a celebrity than as the top-notch singer that he is or the edgy artist he used to be. Not that he cares — he’s sold more than 12 million albums worldwide.

CHAYANNE
This Puerto Rican actor-singer has been recording since 1984 and has sold more than 30 million albums. Some say he can even out-dance Ricky Martin. Whatever. Unlike Ricky, he has never gotten tired of syrupy ballads and crowd-pleasing uptempo dance numbers. Nothing too substantial here: just plain fun.

MARCO ANTONIO SOLÍS
Now we’re talking. Known as “El Buki Mayor” (the leader of his former band Los Bukis, arguably the greatest grupero band in the history of Mexico), Solís is arguably Mexico’s greatest living pop composer (along with Juan Gabriel and Joan Sebastian). He’s cheesy, corny, commercial, anything you want. But nobody makes pop-cumbias as cool as he does, and his radio-friendly tendencies are matched by an above-average melodic sense that breaks down genre barriers. Remember the key jukebox scene in Y tu mamá también? That’s Marco Antonio Solís. Eighty million albums sold? Marco Antonio Solís.

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