Johnny Ventura y Su Combo Show

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Johnny Ventura y Su Combo Show · Johnny Ventura, born Juan de Dios Ventura Soriano and nicknamed El Caballo Mayor, was a Dominican singer and bandleader of merengue and salsa. He was born in 1940 and died in 2021. At sixteen he won a talent contest on radio and television, and received a scholarship from the broadcaster to study music, vocal technique and expression. In 1959 he took the name Johnny Ventura.

Music and breakthrough

He sang in several bands, including the orchestra of Rondón Votau and, in 1961, that of the percussionist Donald Wild. In 1962 he sang with Luis Pérez's Combo Caribe, with whom he recorded his first twelve-track LP, including Cuidado Con el Cuabero. In 1963 the musical director Papa Molina brought him into La Super Orquesta San José. Later he led his own Combo Show, with which he recorded Patacón Pisao, a song from 1977.

Influence

Ventura received a Latin Grammy in 2004 for Sin Desperdicio, a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 and a place in the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022. His political career is remarkable: he was a member of the House of Representatives from 1982 to 1986, deputy mayor of Santo Domingo from 1994 to 1998 and mayor from 1998 to 2002. Merengue is the national music of the Dominican Republic, with a fast rhythm of tambora, güira and accordion, and Ventura modernised it with a combo with brass and a show element that drew dancers.

Listening

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  Patacón Pisao · Johnny Ventura y Su Combo Show, 1977
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