Santiago was born in San Juan. After residing in various neighborhoods in the city he moved to the Nemesio Canales public housing project in his youth; he was eventually nicknamed "El Grifo de Canales" ("The kinky-haired, fair-skinned-one of Nemesio Canales") by close friends and fans. Santiago was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at a young age. He was groomed as a bolero singer (a genre he didn't feel comfortable with) and was a struggling salsa singer (at one time he sang with Rafael Cortijo) until 1971, when he joined Bobby Valentin, another type 1 diabetic, as a duo. Their first LP, "Rompecabezas", ("Puzzle") sold well, and their second LP, "Soy Boricua" ("I'm a Boricua") is considered by many to be a salsa classic and an informal patriotic anthem for Puerto Ricans. That album's title song and the Tite Curet Alonso-written "Pirata de la Mar" ("Pirate of the Seas"), both sung by Santiago, became major international hits. The duo continued making hits during the decade of the 1970s, and they were invited to form part of the Fania All Stars, an exclusive salsa conglomerate of Fania Records musicians that showcased other performers such as Celia Cruz, Rubén Blades, Pellin Rodriguez, Roberto Roena, Andy Montanez and many others.
Santiago separated and went solo apart from Valentin in 1977. In the same year he done some small work for another exclusive salsa conglomerate that was exclusive to Puerto Ricans only called the Puerto Rico All Stars (PRAS). PRAS was a rival to the Fania All Stars. The groups members changed consistently but Santiago had provided background vocals for the original established 1977 PRAS. Later in this year Santiago had a very successful pairing with producer and pianist Jorge Millet. In his solo records he improvised "soneos" (rhyming verses common to salsa) with a strong sense of alliteration, consonance and rhythm that was described once by Ruben Blades this way: "(Rhythm-wise) Marvin is capable of fitting a Mack truck into a parking space where a Volkswagen Beetle won't fit." He also used strong Puerto Rican figures of speech and slang that eventually granted him the moniker of "El Sonero del Pueblo" (The People's Sonero). He attained a major Puerto Rican hit with Cortijo's song "Fuego a la jicotea" ("(Light a) Fire to the Tortoise ( The Tortoise o Jicotea (Trachemys Stejnegeri Stejnegeri) is the unique species of native turtle that lives in pools, lagoons, dams, rivers and brooks of Puerto Rico (also he is present in Cuba). On natural history and customs of this species it is known very little.), a thinly-veiled ode to marijuana. Other hits were: "Al Son de la Lata (baila el chorizo)" -another Cortijo song-, "El Mangoneo", "La Picúa" and "Vasos de Colores".
At the height of his popularity, however, Santiago was arrested and imprisoned for cocaine possession. This was his second conviction, and the amount confiscated implied that he intended to distribute the drug. He served five out of nine years of a prison sentence. He became a born-again Christian in prison, and recorded an album, "Desde Adentro", behind bars. A minor hit spawned from the album was "Auditorio Azul" ("Blue Auditorium", based on the fact that Puerto Rico prison uniforms are usually blue in color). Blades visited him in prison, something for which Santiago would be eternally grateful to him.
After his drug conviction, Santiago's fame waned. By the time he finished his prison sentence, Jorge Millet, the musical architect of Santiago's sound, had died from a heart attack. Due to his spiritual reawakening, Santiago cleaned up the subject matter of his lyrics considerably, something that his hardcore fans did not approve of. Other notable facts that further pushed his fame's decline included the surge of merengue groups such as the Puerto Rico-based Conjunto Quisqueya and Freddie Kenton orchestras, as well as new local talent such as Eddie Santiago and Gilberto Santa Rosa, who popularized so-called "romantic salsa", which eventually displaced more urban-based subject matter in salsa songs. Santiago, however, kept a busy schedule through the 1980s, making several Latin American and inter-Puerto Rico tours and appearing on Puerto Rican television shows several times, often as a comedian in Luisito Vigoreaux's television programs. Poor vocal coaching eventually affected Santiago's vocal cords, turning it raspier with time.
Santiago's health began to decline during the 1990s, but he still went on with his music, releasing "Donde lo Dejamos" ("Where we Left It") in 1992 alongside Valentin. Later on, a "greatest hits" album of his solo songs was released.
Santiago, who adopted Marvin Hagler's "Marvelous" nickname (both because of their common first name and the fact that, at one time, his head was shaved bald like Hagler's), had begun conversations to join a Fania All Stars comeback as a tribute to Celia Cruz by the summer of 2004, but then, he became severely ill.
[edit] Death
Already having lost a leg (and later the other) to diabetes through amputation, Santiago lost vision from one eye and suffered severe kidney, heart and liver damage on the weeks prior to his death. At about noon (AST) on October 6, 2004, he died at a Bayamón hospital.
Auditorio Azul
Marvin Santiago Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Auditorio azul,
de nuevos hermanos
démonos las manos amigos cercanos
tu igual que yo, yo igual que tu
tu igual que yo, yo igual que tu.
verde la esperanza
de partir un día
para no volver.
El tiempo que pase
con su viejo ritmo
va el hombre cambiando
y ya no es el mismo,
va el hombre cambiando
y ya no es el mismo.
Auditorio Azul
que te enseña tanto
de risas y de llanto
de alegría y de cruz.
Pero así es la vida
se pasa por todo
y codo con codo será simpatía
boga como el cielo de color añil
pero estamos vivos y estamos aquí
pero estamos vivos y estamos aquí.
Auditorio azul, bajo el cielo añil
vivito y coleando estamos aquí.
Auditorio azul,
de nuevos hermanos
démonos las manos amigos cercanos
tu igual que yo, yo igual que tu.
Y el tiempo que pase
con su viejo ritmo
va el hombre cambiando
y ya no es el mismo, óyeme Narciso!
Y no será ni en grillos ni en cadenas
en lo que tu penarás
sino que será en una triste soledad
que parece que en el mundo
eres el único que estas ahí.
Uniforme azul,
verde la esperanza
de partir un día para no volver,
óyeme esperanza.
Vivito, vivito, vivito y coleando
rumbero yo me encuentro aquí.
Y boga boga como el cielo azul añil
de partir un día para no volver
y salir de aquí.
Uniforme azul, verde la esperanza
de partir un día, María, para no volver,
Y démonos las manos hermanos sebastianos
tu igual que yo, yo igual que tu.
The opening line of "Auditorio Azul" by Marvin Santiago, "Uniforme de preso, azul, añil," translates to "Prisoner's uniform, blue, indigo." The song is about bonding and camaraderie among inmates in prison, represented by the blue auditorium. The blue color could symbolize hope or sadness, and the inmates all share a sense of unity through their shared experience. The lyrics explore the idea that time changes people, but that in the end, they are all still the same, bonded by their experience. The hope of one day being released and never returning is a driving force for many of the inmates, giving them a reason to keep going every day.
Line by Line Meaning
Uniforme de preso, azul, añil.
The singer is describing his prison uniform, which is colored blue and dark blue.
Auditorio azul, de nuevos hermanos, démonos las manos amigos cercanos, tu igual que yo, yo igual que tu, tu igual que yo, yo igual que tu.
The singer is describing a blue auditorium that is full of new brothers. He then invites them to shake hands, emphasizing that they are all equal and the same.
Uniforme azul, verde la esperanza, de partir un día para no volver.
The singer is referencing his blue uniform again, this time saying that it represents hope (green) for eventually leaving prison and never coming back.
El tiempo que pase con su viejo ritmo va el hombre cambiando y ya no es el mismo, va el hombre cambiando y ya no es el mismo.
Time changes people, and the artist acknowledges that he himself is not the same person he was before. He repeats this line to reinforce this idea of change.
Auditorio Azul que te enseña tanto de risas y de llanto de alegría y de cruz.
The blue auditorium is a place of emotional learning, where people experience joy and sadness, as well as both pleasure and pain.
Pero así es la vida se pasa por todo y codo con codo será simpatía boga como el cielo de color añil pero estamos vivos y estamos aquí, pero estamos vivos y estamos aquí.
The singer acknowledges that life is full of ups and downs, but that ultimately, people must stick together and have sympathy for each other as they navigate through everything. He then notes that life moves on like the blue sky above, but the important thing is that everyone is still alive and present to experience it together.
Auditorio azul, bajo el cielo añil, vivito y coleando estamos aquí.
Reiterating that everyone is still alive and present, the singer notes that they are all there together in the blue auditorium under the blue sky.
Y el tiempo que pase con su viejo ritmo va el hombre cambiando y ya no es el mismo, óyeme Narciso!
The artist reiterates that time changes people, and directs this line specifically at someone named Narciso.
Y no será ni en grillos ni en cadenas en lo que tu penarás sino que será en una triste soledad que parece que en el mundo eres el único que estas ahí.
Addressed again to Narciso, the artist offers an alternative to suffering in chains or jail cells. Instead, he suggests that it is a sad kind of solitude that makes a person feel like they are the only one in the world.
Uniforme azul, verde la esperanza, de partir un día para no volver, óyeme esperanza.
Returning to relating his uniform to hope, the artist tells someone named Esperanza to listen to him, indicating that he has something important to say.
Vivito, vivito, vivito y coleando rumbero yo me encuentro aquí.
The singer asserts that he is still alive and present, describing himself as a rumba dancer.
Y boga boga como el cielo azul añil de partir un día para no volver y salir de aquí.
The artist compares himself to the constant flow of the blue sky, and expresses a desire to leave this place and never return.
Uniforme azul, verde la esperanza, de partir un día, María, para no volver, y démonos las manos hermanos sebastianos, tu igual que yo, yo igual que tu.
The singer tells someone named Maria that his uniform represents hope for leaving this place and never returning. He then addresses a group of people called the Sebastianos, urging them to shake hands and emphasizing that they are all equal and the same.
Writer(s): Catalino Curet Alonso
Contributed by London V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.