Santiago was hired to sing with Cortijo's group and in three weeks time learned the bands repertoire and started touring with them throughout Dominican Republic, New York City and Chicago.
[2] During breaks from Cortijo's group, Santiago played with local bands "Gilberto Y Su Sexteto" & "La Sonora De Felipe Rodríguez".
In 1969 Santiago left Chicago and returned to Puerto Rico where he joined Johnny "El Bravo" López's group and toured with them briefly.
[3] On one engagement with López in Coamo, Puerto Rico, Santiago met Roberto Angleró and offered his services as a backup singer if he ever needed one.
Late in 1970 Bobby Valentín, another type 1 diabetic, hired Santiago as the lead singer of his band after Frankie Hernández left his group.
The songs "Amolador", "Beso Borracho", "Papel De Payaso" & "Vete Pa' llá" were big hits from that album.
[1] Many considered the album a classic and the title track, written by Roberto Angleró, an informal patriotic anthem for Puerto Ricans.
[1] Late in 1976, Santiago provided background vocals and was the lead singer for the track "Los Tambores" on Puerto Rico All Stars self-titled first album.
Famous arranger and producer Jorge Millet knew Santiago well and their friendship could be traced back to the late 1960s when they met while both lived in the city of Chicago.
[6] Millet was aware of Santiago's potential and as a friend wanted to lend him a helping hand by giving him the opportunity to record as a solo artist.
As producer and talent scout for TH Records, Millet was able to provide the arrangements, musicians and artwork for Santiago's debut album with the label.
Santiago's remake of a song from his days in Cortijo, "Vasos En Colores", was also a major hit from the album and remained in his live repertoire throughout his career.
Other hits from the album were "La Picúa", a veiled homage to the female anatomy, and "El Mangoneo" (a Mozambique very much in the style of Cortijo's "Sorongo").
He also used strong Puerto Rican figures of speech and slang that eventually granted him the moniker of "El Sonero del Pueblo".
Santiago was allowed a prison pass to attend the funeral home where Millet's body rested and pay respects to his friend.
Among those factors were; arrangements that were not at the same level as the ones provided by Millet produced albums, Santiago's spiritual reawakening and the considerably cleaned up lyrics on his later work, something that his hardcore fans did not approve of, and the surge of merengue groups such as the Puerto Rico-based Conjunto Quisqueya and Freddie Kenton Orchestra, as well as new local talent such as Eddie Santiago, Gilberto Santa Rosa, and Frankie Ruiz who popularized the so-called "Romantic Salsa", which eventually displaced more urban-based subject matter in Salsa songs.
Even though Santiago's fame waned a bit by the time he finished his prison sentence, he was able to keep a busy schedule by touring in Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries.
[11] In August 2000, Santiago participated in Tommy Olivencia's 40th anniversary celebration as a bandleader at the Tito Puente amphitheater, in San Juan, P.R.
The concert was held at the Tito Puente amphitheater and some of the performers sharing the stage with Santiago were Vitín Avilés, Carlos "Cano" Estremera, Meñique, Guillo Rivera & Luigi Texidor In 2002 Santiago joined the all-star roster of singers and musicians that took part of Bobby Valentin's 35th anniversary live concert held at the Río Piedras State Penitentiary.
Among the all-star lineup were Rubén Blades, Cheo Feliciano, Pedro Guzmán, Giovanni Hidalgo, Papo Lucca, Roberto Roena & Luigi Texidor.
For a few years until early 2003, Santiago shared a popular radio program every Saturday night with JC "El Babalao" Cordero.
[12] Among the performers were Luisito Carrión, Oscar D'León, Elías Lopes, Andy Montañez, Luis "Perico" Ortíz & Domingo Quiñones.
[2] Santiago lost vision from one eye and suffered severe kidney, heart and liver damage on the weeks prior to his death.
On the afternoon of October 6, 2004 after many years of health issues, Santiago died at the age of 56 at the San Pablo Hospital in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.
In the Villa Palmeras neighborhood in Santurce, there is a square named "Plaza De Los Salseros" honoring the memory of distinguished Salsa music luminaries.
Other artists honored in the square are Rafael Cortijo, Héctor Lavoe, Tommy Olivencia, Tito Puente, Ismael Rivera and Pellín Rodríguez.
After his religious conversion, however, Marvin affirmed that the only substance in his life from that moment on, besides the insulin he needed daily for his diabetes, was "Cristomicina", a portmanteau of the name of Christ and erythromycin.