Henry Martínez (born February 13, 1950) is a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

ian and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

. He was born in

Maracay ) , image_skyline = , image_caption =Top:Maracay Municipal Garden and Las Delicias area, Second:Sindoni Tower, Los Tamarindo residential area and overview to Maracay, Third:Maestranza Cesar Giron Bullring Stadium, Girardot Square and Maracay ...

, the capital city of

Aragua Aragua State ( es, Estado Aragua, ) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, states of Venezuela. It is located in the north-central region of Venezuela. It has plains and jungle (terrain), jungles and Caribbean beaches. The most popular are Cata a ...

state.Peñin, José; Guido, Walter. (1998). ''Enciclopedia de la Música en Venezuela''. Fundación Bigott, Caracas. . Largely self-taught, Martínez learned to play

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

at an early age and received basic music training in his hometown between 1963 and 1968. Martínez also took private lessons with

Aldemaro Romero Aldemaro Romero (March 12, 1928 – September 15, 2007) was a Venezuelan pianist, composer, arranger and orchestral conductor. He was born in Valencia, Carabobo State. Biography Romero was a prolific composer, creating a wide range of music, suc ...

and

Luis Laguna Luis Alfredo Laguna (May 1, 1926 – August 1, 1984) was a Venezuelan musician and songwriter.Peñin, José; Guido, Walter. (1998). ''Enciclopedia de la Música en Venezuela''. Fundación Bigott, Caracas. . Born in the tiny city of Guacara, C ...

, who incorporated him to his group Venezuela 4 in 1976. In his early years, Martínez was influenced by diverse

music genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from ''musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are some ...

s such as

latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

. ''HM.org.'' Retrieved on December 14, 2015. Particularly, he showed special interest for the characteristic

chord progressions In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practic ...

used by

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian guitarists such as

Laurindo Almeida Laurindo Almeida (September 2, 1917 – July 26, 1995) was a Brazilian guitarist and composer in classical, jazz, and Latin music. He and Bud Shank were pioneers in the creation of bossa nova. Almeida was the first guitarist to receive Gra ...

Luiz Bonfá Luiz Floriano Bonfá (17 October 1922 – 12 January 2001) was a Brazilian guitarist and composer. He was best known for the music he composed for the film ''Black Orpheus''. Biography Luiz Floriano Bonfá was born on October 17, 1922, in Ri ...

, Baden Powell and

Bola Sete Bola Sete (born Djalma de Andrade; July 16, 1923 – February 14, 1987) was a Brazilian guitarist who played jazz with Vince Guaraldi and Dizzy Gillespie. History Born Djama de Andrade in Rio de Janeiro, Sete was the only son of a family with ...

. Moreover, Martínez was impressed by the work of lyricists and songwriters like

Antonio Carlos Jobim Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

Vinicius de Moraes Marcus Vinícius da Cruz e Mello Moraes (19 October 1913 – 9 July 1980), better known as Vinícius de Moraes () and nicknamed O Poetinha ("The little poet"), was a Brazilian poet, diplomat, lyricist, essayist, musician, singer, and playwright ...

Silvio Rodríguez Silvio Rodríguez Domínguez (born 29 November 1946) is a Cuban musician, and leader of the Nueva Trova movement. He is widely considered Cuba's best folk singer and arguably one of Latin America's greatest singer-songwriters. Known for his int ...

and

Joan Manuel Serrat Joan Manuel Serrat i Teresa (; born 27 December 1943) is a Spanish musician, singer and composer. He is considered one of the most important figures of modern, popular music in both the Spanish and Catalan languages. Serrat's lyrical style h ...

, in order to become a significant figure in

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

popular music of Venezuela. Martínez is best known by his romantic songs ''A tu regreso'', ''Hojarasca gris'', ''Sentida canción'', ''Si no te quisiera tanto'', ''Tiempo de esperanza'' and ''Vénme a buscar'', among others. He also wrote the music of ''Criollísima'', a popular

Venezuelan merengue Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

which features the lyrics of his mentor Laguna. ''HM.org.'' Retrieved on December 14, 2015. In the early 1990s, Martínez moved to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, where he worked exclusively for

Warner/Chappell Music Warner Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company and a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. Warner Chappell Music's catalogue consists of over 1.4 million compositions and 65,000 composers, with offices in over 40 countries. ...

, the global music publishing company of

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

. While at Warner, Martínez composed songs for Latino artists as

Marc Anthony Marco Antonio Muñiz Rivera (born September 16, 1968), known professionally as Marc Anthony, is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. A three-time Grammy Award and six-time Latin Gra ...

Frankie Negrón Frankie Negrón (born January 21, 1977, in Newark, New Jersey) is a singer of salsa music and actor of Puerto Rican descent. He is among a group of notable young tropical singers and ''soneros'' who have woven a blend of pop, rock, gospel music ...

Jerry Rivera Jerry Rivera (born Gerardo Rivera Rodríguez on July 31, 1973) is a Puerto Rican salsa singer and songwriter. Early years Rivera was born in Humacao, a town located on the eastern coast of Puerto Rico. He moved with his family to Levittown in ...

and Vélas, a female vocal group produced by musician

Sergio George Sergio George (born May 23, 1961) is an American pianist, arranger, and record producer, known for working with many famous performers of salsa music, although he has worked in other genres of the music industry as well. He has worked with som ...

. One of his most important albums is ''Cecilia Todd – Canciones de Henry Martínez'', released in 2001, in which he contributed with 15 songs inspired by the geography of Venezuela. This album featured the special participation of the singer

Gualberto Ibarreto Gualberto José Ibarreto Barrios (born July 12, 1947 in El Pilar, Sucre state, Venezuela), is a folk singer who plays the mandolin, cuatro, and guitar. See also * Venezuelan music Several styles of the traditional music of Venezuela, such a ...

and the

bandoneon The bandoneon (or bandonion, es, bandoneón) is a type of concertina particularly popular in Argentina and Uruguay. It is a typical instrument in most tango ensembles. As with other members of the concertina family, the bandoneon is held bet ...

ist

Rodolfo Mederos Rodolfo Mederos (born March 25, 1940) is an Argentine bandoneonist, composer and arranger. He lived in Cuba and France; in Argentina, he founded the experimental group Generación Cero. Early life Mederos was born in the Constitución neig ...

in a handful of tunes. Then in 2003, Martínez released his first studio album as singer-songwriter, ''Ya eres Abril'', featuring the singer

Martirio Maribel Quiñones or ''María Isabel Quiñones Gutiérrez'' in full, known under her stage name as Martirio (a Spanish given name meaning ''Martyrdom'' or ''Torment'', in English) is a Spanish singer born in 1954 in Huelva, Spain. She borrows her ...

and the aforementioned Mederos as guest artists. Besides his musical achievements, Martínez is a physician with a graduate degree in

family medicine Family medicine is a medical specialty within primary care that provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family across all ages, genders, diseases, and parts of the body. The specialist, who is usually a primary ...

, a medical specialty devoted to comprehensive health care for people of all ages.Henry Martínez – El hombre que reinventó el merengue
(Spanish) ''Prodavinci.com''. Retrieved on May 26, 2016.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Henry 1950 births Living people Male composers People from Maracay Venezuelan composers Venezuelan folk musicians Venezuelan general practitioners