Singing a ‘Safe Haven’ for Marc Anthony

Marc Anthony was destined to be a singer in more ways than one. First, born in New York City in 1968 as Marco Antonio Muniz to Puerto Rican parents, his parents named him after the famous Mexican singer of the same name. With that name he had a lot to live up to, and when he embarked on his own singing career, he changed his name to Marc Anthony to avoid confusion with his namesake, the famous Mexican singer.

Second, the young East Harlem resident struggled with stuttering in his early years and found singing as a way to break free of his stuttering bonds.

A June 8, 2011, Zap2it article by Jacqueline Culter summed up his childhood in El Barrio, as East Harlem is known. The article opens with, “For a kid from the projects of El Barrio who was in bilingual classes and who stuttered, Marc Anthony has done alright.” The article quotes the singer as saying, “I used to stutter. And when I sang, I didn’t stutter, and singing became my safe haven. Someone asked me, ‘When did you decide to become a singer?’ I didn’t formally decide. It was just something I was born to do. It was where I lived.”

In the Spanish-language magazine Nexos, a profile on Marc Anthony, “Q’Viva Marc Anthony” by Rosanna Ubannell, begins with “When a human being decides to break free from his chains, the world understands that nothing is impossible.” This is the case of Marc Anthony: as a child the only way he had to avoid stuttering was to sing. Similarly, the Chilean newspaper Mega published an article on July 23, 2013, entitled “Marc Anthony confessed that he began to sing to overcome his stuttering” about statements the singer gave at a press conference in conjunction with his popular record Marc Anthony 3.0. The article states that Marc Anthony is extremely thankful that music taught him how to express himself; he found, thanks to singing he not only discovered his talent to sing, but also a way to control his stuttering.

In the wake of the success of The King’s Speech, an article on the Univision website titled “10 Stutterers Who Became Famous” listed Marc Anthony as the number one “person of interest” in this category.

Marc Anthony’s musical accomplishments and his high-profile marriage to and divorce from Jennifer Lopez have of course pushed his battles with stuttering into the background.

In addition to being a singer, he is also a singer/songwriter, an actor, record producer, and television producer. The singer has won two Grammys in addition to three Latino Grammys, and countless achievement awards in the Latino community. His Latin salsa song list has resulted in the sale of 13 million albums worldwide.

Before breaking out on his own, Anthony found success as a songwriter and backing vocalist for numerous Latin groups such as Menudo and the Latin Rascals. Initially reluctant to record salsa, he changed his mind and released his debut Spanish-language album, Otra Nota, which earned him recognition and high marks from the Latin audience. His second Latin album, Toda a Su Tiempo, landed the emerging star a Billboard award for Hot Tropical Artist of the Year; the album was also nominated for a Grammy.

Marc Anthony overcame his stuttering on the way to becoming a worldwide superstar singer. The fact that he has been so open about his struggles with stuttering no doubt will serve to inspire young people who are also dealing with stuttering. In addition, having Puerto Rican parents and being bilingual gives the worldwide Latino stuttering community a true hero as well. With all of Marc Anthony’s diverse roles in entertainment, it should be noted that he is a role model for sure.

Photo credit: Marc Anthony on the home page of his website, www.MarcAnthonyOnline.com

From the Winter 2014 Newsletter

CELEBRITY FOCUS

John Stossel

John Stossel is one of the most recognized and articulate reporters today. However, he once considered giving up his broadcasting career because of his stuttering.

“Fear of stuttering can easily become worse than the stuttering itself,” observed Stossel. “The idea that I’m on television and making speeches is still a shock to me sometimes.”

Bill Walton

From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.

Darren Sproles

Darren Sproles, a former player for The Philadelphia Eagles, the New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers, made history in 2007 when he became the first player in NFL history to return a kickoff and a punt for his first two NFL touchdowns in the same game. In 2021, he was selected to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Byron Pitts

Byron Pitts has brought much attention to stuttering with his memoir, Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life’s Challenges, released in September, 2009. The book not only details his speech difficulties, but also his illiteracy until age 12 and his unstable family life. Pitts overcame the odds to become the chief national correspondent with ABC News.

Bill Withers

While Bill Withers has long been on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter, many people probably didn’t realize he stuttered. He passed away on March 30, 2020.

Born in 1938 in Slab Fork, W.V., Withers was the youngest of six children. When his father died when Withers was small, he was raised by his mother and grandmother, both of whom worked as domestics.