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. Early life 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. Singing career Muñiz 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, Anthony worked as a songwriter and backing vocalist for pop acts Menudo and the Latin Rascals. By the early 1990s, Anthony had sold more salsa records than any other performer on the planet, solidifying his position among the most important new salsa artists to emerge in the 1990s. Unlike the more socially conscious New York salsa musicians of the