Marlon

Born in Cuba in 1977, salsa sensation Marlon Fernández grew up without any musical heritage in his household. He nevertheless devoted countless hours during his youth to absorbing and committing to memory the catalogs of admired performers including Ricardo Montaner and Luis Miguel. At fourteen he assembled a five-piece group in his hometown of La Lisa, an early venture that supplied practical training for the future bandleader. Marlon moved to Spain in 2001 and captured the top prize at El Concurso de la Juventud, an American Idol-style contest, with his animated take on Marc Anthony’s “Este Loco que Te Mira.” He sharpened his stagecraft across Spanish bars and clubs until relocating to the United States in 2003. In Miami, the salsa capital, he cultivated a devoted local audience through several weekly engagements at spots such as Tropical Cigars and Palacio de los Jugos. Fronting La Química (The Chemical), he attained a measure of regional celebrity and frequent press coverage, yet never achieved widespread breakthrough. International visibility arrived when he joined the Puerto Rican television program Objectivo Fama, the identical series that had propelled the prior season’s champion Anais into global view. Victory on the show brought a recording contract with Univision, the program’s proprietor. His first album, Mi Sueno, appeared in October 2006 and climbed to number seven on Billboard’s Latin Tropical chart. Although the project spawned popular tracks such as “Usted Abuso” and “A Quien,” Marlon later severed ties with Univision, asserting that the label had mismanaged his professional affairs.