Strong Latin Influence For This Year’s Event.
ORGANIZERS of the annual Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival have announced that the headliner for the 10 day event will be Marc Anthony, the top-selling tropical salsa recording artistes of all time.
The Grammy award winning Latin singer, with 25 Billboard chart hits, was inaugurated into the Billboard Hall of Fame in 2012. He is scheduled to perform on Sunday, May 8 as part of the festival’s main stage performances.
Marc Anthony is one of the most infl¬uential performing artistes of his time, and an ambassador of Latin music and culture at a global level. A New Yorker born and raised, the product of a music-loving Puerto Rican family, his parents named him Marco Antonio Muñíz in honour of the great Mexican balladeer of the same name.
He began his recording career singing the English-language dance music known as freestyle, and hit his stride between 1993 and 1997 with his first three salsa albums.
He received his first GRAMMY® in 1998 for Best Latin Tropical Performance for
“Contra La Corriente,” followed by the first-ever Latin GRAMMY® Song of the Year award for “Dímelo”(I Need to Know) in 2000.
His eponymous English-language album debut went triple-platinum in the US, and helped usher in the Latin pop explosion of 1999-2000.
In 2005 Anthony received double best-album GRAMMYs® — Best Latin Pop Album for “Amar Sin Mentiras”, and Best Salsa Album for “Valió la Pena.”
He has sold over 12 million albums worldwide, receiving numerous gold and platinum certications from the Recording Industry Association of America along the way. He was inaugurated into the Billboard Hall of Fame in 2012, and was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in Washington D.C. in September 2009.
Anthonyhas won a total of 25 Premio Lo Nuestro Latin Music awards, the most for any male artiste, and has been honoured with the ASCAP Founders Award. He’s received twelve Billboard Latin Music Awards, three Billboard Awards, and a special recognition from the Univisión television network in the last two years.
The Latin influence in the 25th anniversary of the Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival will be highlighted and celebrated as the Saint Lucia Tourist Board (SLTB) begins working collaboratively with the Latin dance community – in particular Salsa Saint Lucia. The three year old organization seeks to promote fitness, health, social development and cultural diversity on Saint Lucia through Latin dance and music.
The addition of Marc Anthony to the lineup was a collective celebration yesterday when highly popular Salsa Saint Lucia kicked off a series of specially themed Salsa parties at Blu Hotel in Rodney Bay, commemorating the music of the Grammy award winning Latin sensation.
“We will be reaching out to the regional Latin dance community to join us and the massive following of Salsa Saint Lucia for the Festival in May,” notes Tracey Warner-Arnold, Deputy Director of Tourism and Head of Marketing at the SLTB.
“In the lead up to the Festival, there will be a number of Latin dance parties hosted by Salsa Saint Lucia celebrating the music of Marc Anthony and the 25th anniversary of the Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival,” says Peter St. Rose, founder and lead instructor of Salsa Saint Lucia.
At its 25th anniversary milestone, the festival will pay homage to what has been an unforgettable journey that now distinguishes it as the Caribbean’s longest running international music and Arts festival. The selection, therefore, deliberately combines past performers deemed by patrons to be among their most memorable, mixed with contemporary chart-toppers.
The curtain raises on April 29, with a line-up that also blends island culture, famed musical talent and eclectic music genres. Internationally renowned performers also gracing the stage this year include singer/songwriter Shaggy, 10-time Grammy winner George Benson, legendary Kool and the Gang, soft rock duo Air Supply, reggae pop singer Omi, French zouk masters Kassav, jazz saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr., and two-time Grammy nominee Joey Alexander. Local superstars performing on mainstage for the 25th anniversary include legendary jazz guitarist Ronald ‘Boo’ Hinkson, R& B Crooner Irvin ‘Ace’ Loctar and Groovy Soca phenomenon Teddyson John.
The ten day festival runs through May 8 and will feature a multitude of musical performances and art showcases throughout the island. Locations span from Saint Lucia’s iconic Pigeon Island National Par , where main stage events will kick-off on Friday, May 6, to various other venues island wide. With a continued emphasis on the arts component of the festival, a tribute to Sir Derek Walcott – one of Saint Lucia’s two Nobel Laureates – will be presented through the play Omeros produced by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London. An Arts Village with a dedicated site in the north of the island will feature literary, visual and performing arts, while the acclaimed fashion show, “Hot Couture,” will return with a spotlight on Saint Lucia and the region’s cutting edge style.