Marc & J Lo In Puerto Rico For Premiere

Hollywood Power Couple To Debut "El Cantante"

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, July 23, 2007 | by Judy Faber

(CBS/AP)  Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez arrived in Puerto Rico Monday to attend the opening of "El Cantante," a film biography of salsa pioneer Hector Lavoe.

The husband-and-wife team were co-stars in the biopic: Anthony starred as the famed but troubled Puerto Rican singer and Lopez played the singer's long-suffering wife, Puchi. The couple, whose families are from Puerto Rico, arrived on a private jet from New York.

The film took five years to complete and faced its ultimate test here, said director Leon Ichaso, a Cuban.

"It's tied to a Puerto Rican hero and Puerto Rican music," Ichaso said. "Everyone will scrutinize whether it was done well or badly, whether we made a mistake here or there."

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Lavoe, who was born Hector Juan Perez Martinez, launched his solo career in 1975 after gaining international fame as the singer of Willie Colon's orchestra.

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Lavoe endured several tragedies in his personal life. Traumatized by the deaths of his father and his 18-year-old son, he tried to commit suicide by jumping from the ninth floor of a San Juan hotel but lived. Lavoe died in 1993 at age 46 after battling AIDS and a heroin addiction.

Coincidentally, Anthony released his debut salsa album, "Otra Nota" the year Lavoe died. In 2001, Anthony was named the biggest selling tropical salsa artist in the world.

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