Marcy Place: Don Omar's Chosen Few

Don Omar is hoping his Midas touch extends beyond himself (he nabbed Jackie Guerrido for God’s sake). He signed bachata/pop group Marcy Place, comprised of brothers Joey, Billy and producer JC, to his Orfanato Music Group. Currently they’re burning up Latin radio with their hit “Todo Lo Que Soy.” Last month they released B From Marcy Place, a mix of bachata, pop, R&B and merengue. I caught with the trio to chat about their mentor and those pesky Aventura comparisons.

SITV.COM: How did y’all get together?
JC: I used to produce songs for Joey and his brother Billy. Then we got the opportunity to meet Don Omar in Bronx on a street called Marcy Place, which is where Lenny Santos’ (from Aventura) studio is located. We were working on “Cancion de Amor,” which a bachata by Don Omar. I was the producer. I had the opportunity to show him the guys’ songs and he liked it. Then I showed him mine and he also liked it. Then he decided to make us a group and name us Marcy Place because of the street. Joey and Billy were already a group but it was Don Omar’s idea to put us three together.

SITV.COM: What have you learned from Don Omar?
Joey: We’ve learned confidence, professionalism. He’s taught us to be a little more organized. He helped us. Within our relationship we’ve been learning a lot lately and it’s been going really well. Everything that we know right now we’re learning from him.

SITV.COM: How are you different from Aventura?
JC: We’re friends with Aventura and we learned a lot from them. We’re fans of their music. Aventura’s idol is Anthony Santos who is really typical bachata singer from Dominican Republic. Our experiences are more pop, R&B we kind of have that in our melody. We definitely give them props. But in our style of music most of the public realized that it’s different. It’s more pop and less typical bachata. It’s fresh and different than what’s going on. It seems like everyone else is imitating Aventura while we’re creating our own style.