Born Domingo Antonio Santos Muñoz the 5th of May, 1967 in Las Matas de Santa Cruz Dominican Republic. He is considered to be the best Bachatero of his time.
Antony Santos, as he is known, is perhaps the most famous bachatero and is also the one who has had the most success since he started his career in the 80′s until now. Considered to be the King of Bachata by many, he is best known by his Moniker El Mayimbe de La Bachata, a name taken as a ode to Fernandito Villalona who is known as El Mayimbe (Of Merengue music).
Anthony is best known for his romantic slant on the music that was mostly known as being “fresh” when it was first started with many sexual undertones. The song that made him, was “Voy pa’ lla”, in the interview on the first video listed here he goes into details about how the song came to be.
while Blas Duran is credited with being the first Bachatero to incorporate the electric guitar into bachata, it wasnt until Anthony’s mixture of romantic lyrics with the new sound that it took off. He originally was part of another Great bachatero’s band, Luis Vargas, but in 1990 left that band to form his own. With many songs to his credit (over 200) Anthony is currently the highest paid solo Bachatero earning once in Puerto Rico a said 90,000 U.S. Dollars for a performance for his label, unheard of for a Bachata artist.
Antony Santos
His humble start can be heard still in his lyrics and interviews alike, and he has served as inspirations to many of todays up and coming artist and artists like Romeo from the group Aventura who have becomed legends in their own right.
Watch as singer Antony Santos talks candidly about how his song Voy Pa’lla (Translated “I’m going Over there”) came to be. For our non-spanish Speaking viewers, Antony describes in emotional fashion how he was missing one song to complete his CD of 10 songs, and simply did the track “to complete” it.
“Voy Palla” became one of Antony Santo’s best known hits, and as he explains, the song took him out of poverty onto the great singer we know today. Check out these videos to learn more about the singer/songwriter Bachatero from the Dominican Republic.
VIDEO INTEVIEW 1: (See Interview on YOUTUBE)