Marc Anthony

The mixed response that Nuyorican actor, singer, and songwriter Marc Anthony received for his role in last year's El Cantante (the much-hyped biopic of tragic salsa pioneer Héctor Lavoe) does not do justice to Anthony's real star power. As he reaches his 40th birthday, Anthony is still successfully crossing among various musical genres, having gone from freestyle to salsa and Latin pop while building a respectable career and starting an acting career as well. On his current tour, Anthony is plugging his latest album, Sigo Siendo Yo ("I Am Still Myself"), a compilation of his greatest Spanish-language hits. During his set, he mixes things up by also including tunes like "Aguanile," a Lavoe hit that is part of the soundtrack of the biopic (which reached number one on the Billboard Latin charts) alongside original tunes like "No me ames" and "Lamento Borincano." Sharing the bill is Mexican-born Alejandro "El Potrillo" Fernandez, yet another successful crossover artist. The son of ranchera megastar Vicente Fernandez, Alejandro started out in 1991 by following in his father's footsteps. But after the release of Me Estoy Enamorado in 1997, he began carving out an image of his own by exploring more-contemporary sounds. More recently, he recorded the flamenco-tinged "Amor Gitano" as a duet with Beyoncé Knowles. In spite of his pop success, Fernandez has not abandoned the genre that launched him to fame, and he occasionally dons his sombrero and mariachi suit to the delight of fans on both sides of the border.