Songoftheday 1/3/22 - They say around the way you've asked for me, there's even talk about you wanting me...

 

 

"I Need To Know" - Marc Anthony

from the album Marc Anthony (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (two weeks)

Weeks on the chart: 34

 

Welcome back, and Happy and healthy New Year's to all.

 

Today's song comes from singer Marc Anthony, who grew up Marco Antonio Muñiz Rivera in New York City, where he started his music career as a dance music artist, coming up on the Latin Freestyle craze of the late 1980s. Working with that genre's big production teams the Latin Rascals and Masters at Work, and rechristening himself Marc Anthony, he released the one-off indie single "Rebel" in 1988. Three years later, Anthony and DJ/producer "Little" Louie Vega of Masters At Work released the collaborative album When The Night Is Over. Lead single "Ride On The Rhythm", which detoured into "house music", went to #1 on Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, and was a minor hit in the UK at #70.

 

Despite this success, Marc changed his style for his solo album debut Otra Nota to salsa music. Lead single "Hasta Que Te Conoci" ("Until I Met You"), a remake of a hit from Latin music star Juan Gabriel, became Anthony's first success on the radio, climbing to #13 on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart in 1993. A year later, a duet with singer India (a former freestyle artist herself who co-wrote "Ride On The Rhythm"), "Vivir Lo Nuestro" ("Live What Is Ours"), landed Marc his first top ten Latin Songs hit at #10. 

Anthony returned in 1995 with his second Spanish-language album Todo a Su Tiempo ("All In Due Time"). The record topped Billboard's Tropical Latin Albums chart, and spun off four top-ten singles on the Latin Songs chart, starting with "Te Conozco Bien" ("I Know You Well"), which went to #7. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Album, which went to Gloria Estefan for her Abriendo Puertas set. Anthony's third record for the Latin label RMM, Contra la Corriente ("Against The Current"), came out in 1997. also landing four top ten Latin Songs hits, with first single "Y Hubo Alguien" ("And There Was Someone") going all the way to #1. The album this time won the Tropical Latin Album Grammy in 1999, and was Marc's first placing on the Billboard 200 sales chart at #74.

At the same time, Marc was battling his indie label, and left that year to be signed to big-label powerhouse Columbia Records, where he released this self-titled record in the fall of 1999. The lead single "I Need To Know", written by the singer with R&B songwriter/producer Cory Rooney, came just at the right time, as the "Latin Explosion" headed by Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, and future wife Jennifer Lopez was in full gear. The record, probably from Rooney's help, had the sound of the big "boybands" of the time with a Latin twist that like the hits from Martin and Lopez used percussive and horn instrument touches that fit in with the "explosion" niche, though with his salsa history it gave a little slower tempo and slinkier vibe, as Marc asks of his potential lover her intentions...

"I Need To Know" became Anthony's first top ten pop hit in America in November of 1999. The song rose to #7 on Billboard's older-skewing Adult Top-40 radio chart, and went to #21 on their Adult Contempoary (or "easy listening") format list, spending a half year on each of them. The dance remixes of the song, done by Pablo Flores among others, helped the song go to #12 on the Dance Club Play chart. Internationally, the single went to #1 in Poland, and reached the top ten in Canada (#5), Belgium (#6F), and Finland (#8). It also reached the top-40 in Norway (#11), Germany (#15), Austria (#16), Switzerland (#16), the Netherland (#18), Sweden (#19), Australia (#20), New Zealand (#20), the UK (#28), and Iceland (#37). The Marc Anthony album, released in September of that year, peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, going on to sell over three million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2000, "I Need To Know" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, one of three men doing a "Latin" style record, but losing to Sting for "Brand New Day". Both Anthony and the album will return to this series.

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The Spanish-language version of "I Need To Know" was called "Dimelo" ("Tell Me"), went to #1 on Billboard's Latin Pop Airplay, Tropical Latin Airplay, and Latin Songs chart. At the inaugural Latin Grammy Awards in 2000, "Dimelo" won for Song of the Year and Best Male Pop Performance, and lost Record of the Year to Santana for their "Corazon Espinado"...

And speaking of the Grammys, here's Marc performing "I Need To Know" there...

 

 Next up, for a Christmas special from Rosie O'Donnell in 2001...

and lastly, at a live gig for President Barack Obama at the White House...

Up tomorrow: a Canadian cuts off contact.