On the heels of his Grammy nomination in the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance category, Marc Anthony [ tickets ] has unveiled plans for a two-month, 23-city North American tour, set to launch in February. The Latin star, whose crossover success with an English-speaking audience has steadily gained steam in recent months, is confirmed in six cities.

Anthony's self-titled English-language debut album was certified Platinum in November, and has climbed as high as No. 8 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The single ''I Need To Know,'' which recently hit No. 3 on the singles chart, netted Anthony a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal performance; he faces competition from Lou Bega, Andrea Bocelli, Ricky Martin and Sting.

Before making his crossover to an English-speaking audience, Anthony filled arenas in New York, Los Angeles and many Spanish-speaking countries on the strength of three salsa albums, which established him as the top-selling salsa singer in the world, according to Columbia Records. The Sony Discos label recently released ''Desde un Precipio/From the Beginning,'' a compilation of the salsa hits Anthony recorded for the Latin label RMM Records.

On the upcoming tour of theater-sized venues, which will venture into in markets without large Spanish-speaking populations, one can expect the native of New York's Spanish Harlem to play a mix of English-language and Spanish-language songs. On-sale dates for tickets haven't been announced in several cities, and additional dates will be posted at Anthony's official website.

Anthony's Feb. 10 concert at New York's Madison Square Garden, which he has already sold out twice, will be filmed for an HBO special that will air on Feb. 12.

Besides his success on record, Anthony also starred in Paul Simon's short-lived Broadway musical ''The Capeman,'' and has had significant roles in several movies, including Stanley Tucci's ''Big Night'' and Martin Scorsese's ''Bringing Out the Dead.''