\n<\/p>\n
Rubby P\u00e9rez, the singer who was performing on Tuesday when the ceiling of the Jet Set nightclub collapsed in Santo Domingo, claiming at least 218 lives including his own<\/a>, spent his long career devoted to merengue, the signature style of the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n Wilfrido Vargas, the band leader who gave P\u00e9rez his big break in the early 1980s, called him \u201cthe best singer the genre has ever produced\u201d upon learning of his bandmate\u2019s death. At the outset of their collaboration, Vargas dubbed the singer \u201cthe loudest voice of merengue,\u201d an appellation the vocalist wore proudly. An enthusiastic performer, P\u00e9rez brought high spirits even to ballads, but he specialized in rousing, spirited numbers where his clarion voice commanded attention over a dance band\u2019s bustling rhythms.<\/p>\n Music was P\u00e9rez\u2019s second choice for a career. As a teenager, he harbored hopes of baseball stardom, dreams that came to an end when his right leg was fractured in an auto accident when he was 15. During his convalescence, he found solace in the guitar, which he called his \u201cnew bat.\u201d He started singing in a church choir and, by the end of the 1970s, he dedicated himself to music, studying at Santo Domingo\u2019s National Conservatory of Music.<\/p>\n Initially drawn to bolero, he embraced the widespread popularity of merengue in the Dominican Republic (it has also gained a significant foothold in Venezuela). He made his professional debut as part of Los Pitagoras del Ritmo, sang in Los Juveniles de Bani, then replaced Fernando Villalona in Los Hijos del Rey, spending three years with the outfit before joining Vargas\u2019s orchestra in 1980.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Vargas provided the launchpad for P\u00e9rez\u2019s career, giving him a pair of signature hits in \u201cEl Africano\u201d and \u201cVolver\u00e9,\u201d which allowed him to embark on a solo career in 1987. His last album, \u201cHecho Esta,\u201d arrived in 2022, but he made his mark in the 1980s, when both he and merengue broke out of the Dominican Republic. Here are five of his signature songs. (Listen on Spotify<\/a> or Apple Music<\/a>.)<\/p>\n P\u00e9rez made his recording debut as the lead singer in the band led by Vargas, and the single \u201cEl Africano\u201d from Vargas\u2019s 1983 album \u201cEl Funcionario\u201d was a Latin hit. It\u2019s a brassy merengue, with P\u00e9rez\u2019s high vocals punctuated by saxophones and a raucous trombone. The lyrics may strike modern listeners as offensive (\u201cMommy, what does the Black man want?\u201d P\u00e9rez repeatedly sings, from the perspective of \u201ca little Black girl\u201d). The backing vocals answer, between mock-African interjections, \u201cHe wants some.\u201d The track was later sampled by Pitbull for his 2007 single \u201cThe Anthem.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n One of his last recordings with Vargas, \u201cVolver\u00e9\u201d became one of P\u00e9rez\u2019s signatures. A cover of a song first cut by the flamenco singer Chiquetete, \u201cVolver\u00e9\u201d is transformed by Vargas into an infectious merengue number that captures P\u00e9rez\u2019s theatrical flair. The singer balked at the cover at first. \u201cI said I couldn\u2019t sing it in that key, and they told me it didn\u2019t matter; we should sing it backwards, doing the low notes first and then the high notes after I was warmed up,\u201d he once said<\/a>. \u201cWe started from the back and, thank God, after all this time, I can sing that song in that key.\u201d This backward construction gives \u201cVolver\u00e9\u201d unstoppable momentum.<\/p>\n P\u00e9rez\u2019s solo stardom was cemented by \u201cBuscando Tus Besos,\u201d the lead single from his self-titled debut. A streamlined arrangement and bright production give the single a breezier feel than the hits the singer had with Vargas, a shift in tone that helped its accompanying album climb to No. 15 on Billboard\u2019s Tropical Albums chart in 1987.<\/p>\n Riding the momentum of \u201cBuscando Tus Besos,\u201d P\u00e9rez reached No. 29 on Billboard\u2019s Hot Latin Songs chart with \u201cEnamorado De Ella.\u201d An unabashed love song, \u201cEnamorado De Ella\u201d wears its romanticism in its execution, not its tempo. P\u00e9rez never pushes to the upper reaches of his range, instead choosing to sing with a tenderness that warms the song\u2019s lively horns and vibrant rhythms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u2018<\/strong>El Africano<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 (1983)<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\u2018<\/strong>Volver\u00e9<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 (1985)<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\u2018<\/strong>Buscando Tus Besos<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 (1987)<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\u2018<\/strong>Enamorado De Ella<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 (1988)<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n