"El Cantante" is "the singer." Marc Anthony is Hector Lavoe, originally Perez, who came to New York from Puerto Rico at age 17. When he started to sing professionally his agents gave him the name Lavoe, which is supposed to mean "the voice" in French, because Perez was too common. I have never been a fan of Salsa music and I never heard of Lavoe, but he apparently was a hit artist in that musical genre in the 60s through the 80s. Marc Anthony, a wonderful singer in his own right, did all his own singing in the movie.
Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony's wife in real life, is Puchi who becomes Lavoe's wife. Andrea Navedo is Puchi's sister. John Ortiz is Willie Colón. According to the story in the movie, Lavoe and Colon combine their talents and different backgrounds to come up with "salsa" for their music, because salsa is a mix of things. However, my search of the history of salsa does not attribute its beginnings to them.
Lavoe led a troubled life, losing his mother, then his brother, when he was still young. In his relationship with Puchi he was abusive often. Sadly he got heavily into alcohol and drugs, which caused his both professional difficulties and health difficulties. He died of aids (presumably from drug use and sharing needles) before he was 50.
The movie is not a particularly good one. It is shot in a grainy, unattractive style, and it is pretty tedious sitting through the whole 2 hours of it. I would have liked the 30 minute version of the movie. Still, I am a fan of both Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, and I enjoyed seeing them. Too bad they didn't have a better script to work with.
Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony's wife in real life, is Puchi who becomes Lavoe's wife. Andrea Navedo is Puchi's sister. John Ortiz is Willie Colón. According to the story in the movie, Lavoe and Colon combine their talents and different backgrounds to come up with "salsa" for their music, because salsa is a mix of things. However, my search of the history of salsa does not attribute its beginnings to them.
Lavoe led a troubled life, losing his mother, then his brother, when he was still young. In his relationship with Puchi he was abusive often. Sadly he got heavily into alcohol and drugs, which caused his both professional difficulties and health difficulties. He died of aids (presumably from drug use and sharing needles) before he was 50.
The movie is not a particularly good one. It is shot in a grainy, unattractive style, and it is pretty tedious sitting through the whole 2 hours of it. I would have liked the 30 minute version of the movie. Still, I am a fan of both Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, and I enjoyed seeing them. Too bad they didn't have a better script to work with.