Antony Santos

Domingo Antonio Santos Muñoz (born May 5, 1967), known professionally as Antony Santos, is a Dominican musician and singer. One of the top-selling bachata artists of all time, he is known as one of the pioneers of modern bachata in the early 1990s, with his role in redefining the genre to include romantic lyrics, poppy guitar licks, and implementation of new instruments, such as the piano and saxophone. He became the first rural bachatero to reach a mainstream audience with his hit single, "Voy Pa'lla". He has had success with other hits like "Por Mi Timidez", "No Te Puedo Olvidar", "Me Quiero Morir", "Lloro", "Solo Te Amo", "Se Acabó El Abuso", among others. He is known as "El Mayimbe" of Bachata, and is the second Dominican musician to acquire this moniker, after Fernando Villalona. He is also known as El Bachatú, the nickname he originally started with.

Santos was born in 1967 in Clavellinas, Las Matas de Santa Cruz in Monte Cristi Province. He grew up in an extremely poor family in a little house on farmland. His father worked many meaningless jobs for essentially no pay, and the family would often go without food due to having little to no income.

Santos entered onto the bachata scene in the late 1980s, beginning his career as the güira player for fellow bachatero Luis Vargas, only to leave the group and maintain a very public feud with Vargas. Raulín Rodríguez also started his music career with Antony as a güira player. In 1991, Santos would make his debut with the release of his first single titled "Voy Pa'lla". It is also the first single for his first album. The song became a huge hit, thus making him the first rural bachatero to reach a mainstream audience. In the same year, he released his debut album, La Chupadera. It peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Tropical Albums chart. The album also included songs like "La Parcela" and "Te Vas Amor", which is a bachata cover of the song "Tu Cárcel", a song written by Marco Antonio Solís and produced by his cousin Javier Solís, both members of the Mexican group Los Bukis.

In 1992, he released his second studio album titled La Batalla. It peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Tropical Albums chart. It included merengues like "El Baile Del Perrito" and "Yo Me Muero Por Ti", and bachata songs "Florecita Blanca", Vengo De Alla, "Antologia De Caricias", a cover of an Altamira Banda Show song, and "Ay Mujer", which is a cover of Juan Luis Guerra's song. In 1993, he released his third album titled Corazón Bonito. It included hits like "Si Tu Cariño No Está", "Dónde Estará", "Por Mi Timidez", which peaked at number 40 on the Billboard Tropical Airplay chart. He once performed this song live with American bachata singer Romeo Santos in the 2000s. In 2019, Romeo would perform this song live at MetLife Stadium in front of a sold out crowd as an homage to Antony. It is part of Romeo's second live album Utopía Live from MetLife Stadium.

From 1994 to 1998, he released more albums with more successful singles like "Corazón Culpable", "No Te Vayas", "Si Me Olvidaste", "Consejo De Padre", "Durmiendo Solo", "Soñe Con Ella", "Ay! No Te Vayas", "Me Voy Mañana" and "Ya No Me Quieres Querer". Around this time, he would become the second artist to ever win Bachata Artist of the year at the 1996 Cassandra Awards (now Soberano Awards). In 1999, he released his first live album El Mayimbe: En Vivo . Later on that same year, he released his ninth studio album Enamorado. It featured the singles "Si Quieres Volver", Ay Querida, and "Pégame Tu Vicio". It also contained the smash hit "No Te Puedo Olvidar"; the intro of the song was used as a sample for Bad Bunny's 2022 single "Tití Me Preguntó".

In 2001, Santos released his tenth studio album El Balazo. It peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Tropical Albums chart. It featured the single "Si Volvieras", "Cuanto Lamento", "Me Quiero Morir", which peaked at number 36 on the Billboard Tropical Airplay chart. The following year, he released his second live album El Mayimbe, Vol. 2 (En Vivo). In the same year he released his eleventh studio album Juego de Amor. It included singles like, "Juego De Amor", "Brindo Por Tu Cumpleaños", "Dosis De Amor" and "Hay De Mi, Hay De Ti". which peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Tropical Airplay chart and was the first time the voice of his female background singer, Susy was heard on her own in a few lines of the song.

In 2003, he released his twelfth studio album Sin Ti. It peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Tropical Albums chart. It included the singles "Ahora", "La Jaula De Oro", and "Sin Ti", which featured Santos' female background voice singer, Susy. She would also be featured in other songs like the 2004 song, "Ay Amor", which was a part of the 2004 album Vuelve Amor. This album was recorded live in a studio. In the same year, he released the live album Concierto, En Vivo: United Palace. It is based on a sold out concert at the United Palace in New York City.

In 2005 he released the album Lloro. It included the single titled the same name as the album and peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Tropical Airplay chart. In the same year, he collaborated with American bachata group Aventura in the song "Ciego De Amor. It is included in Aventura's 2005 album God's Project. In 2007 they performed the song live at Madison Square Garden. The performance was included in the group's 2007 live album Kings of Bachata: Sold Out at Madison Square Garden. The song is also included in Antony's 2009 album Un Muerto Vivo. The group's lead singer Romeo Santos would make more singles with Antony. Also, around this time period, Antony would start using the letter "H" in his name, thus going under the name Anthony Santos since the mid or late-2000s.