Wilfrido Vargas

Wilfrido Vargas was born in 1949 in the Puerto Plata province of the Dominican Republic. The oldest of 10 children, he started studying at the Municipal Academy of Music at the age of 10, and before he was 12 was already paving the way for a successful career as the trumpet soloist and director of a small local band. By his 20s Wilfrido became one of the Dominican Republic's most influential artists, modernizing the national style known as merengue.

Vargas produced his first album, Wilfrido Vargas y Sus Beduinos, on the Karen label in 1974, which was the first of 17 albums that Vargas would record with Karen, all the while acting as mentor to a new generation of merengue musicians. His collaboration with pianist/composer Sonny Ovalle on the Beduinos' recordings lead to a string of minor hits in the 1970s, but it was his subsequent recordings and collaboration with Sandy Reyes which helped touch off a worldwide merengue craze, providing exposure for scores of Dominican artists. Vargas was also asked to join the Fania All-Stars as part of their 1979 landmark Havana concert titled "Havana Jam," which was documented on a CBS recording.

Vargas had a series of hit albums and songs in the '80s (including the club favorite "El Baile del Perrito"), and later switched to the Sonotone label, producing several albums including Animation, for which he received a 1989 Grammy nomination. Vargas' style brought high energy and flashy dance moves to the merengue genre, and some of his best work from this '80s peak period was characterized by a creative blending of traditional merengue with other Caribbean elements such as soca and zouk as well as American rap and disco. Among his producing highlights was his creation and production of the all-female merengue group Las Chicas Del Can. —Rebeca Mauleon