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Johnny Ventura

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

Johnny Ventura, nicknamed El Caballo Mayor, was a Dominican singer and bandleader of merengue and salsa. He was born in 1940 as Juan de Dios Ventura Soriano. At sixteen he won an amateur singing contest on the radio, and then many more, until he received a scholarship from the broadcaster La Voz Dominicana, with which he studied music, vocal technique and expression. In 1959 he took the name Johnny Ventura and sang in orchestras that played at dances. He worked with Luis Pérez's Combo Caribe and recorded his first LP with them. In 1963 he joined La Super Orquesta San José, as a singer and güira player.

Music and breakthrough

In 1964, at the urging of a Cuban impresario, he started his own orchestra, Combo Show, which took an important place in popular Dominican music. In 1965 the albums La Coquetona, La Resbalosa and El Turun Tun Tun were released with that orchestra. In 1967 he travelled to the United States, where he became a star at once. The album Ah...! Yo no sé... No from 1971 became his first gold record. Songs such as Salsa pa' tu lechón, El Tabaco and Llegaron los caballos made him popular throughout the Caribbean.

Influence

Ventura helped modernise merengue, with faster rhythms, choreographed performances and influences from salsa and other Caribbean music. In 2004 he received a Latin Grammy for the album Sin Desperdicio and in 2006 the Latin Grammy for his lifetime achievement. He was also a politician: member of parliament from 1982 to 1986, deputy mayor of Santo Domingo from 1994 to 1998 and mayor from 1998 to 2002. He died in 2021.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Salsa pa' tu lechón and notice the tempo and the brass, and how the singer encourages the dancers.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists