Kinito Méndez, born José del Carmen Ramírez Méndez on November 18, 1963, is a Merengue Music singer.
Mendez started his career in Merengue Music in 1988 as one of the Co-founders of the popular Merengue band "La Cocoband", along with Alfonzo "Pochy" Vásquez and Bobby Rafael. Mendez wrote and arranged many of La Cocoband's hit songs including "La Manito" "El Boche" "La Seca" "El Cacu" and "Mujer Malvada". With the success of La Cocoband Mendez decided to leave and start his own project in early 1992 along with Bobby Rafael which was "Rokabanda", who won Orquesta Revelación del Año in Los Premios Cassandra in 1993. With Rokabanda, Mendez continued his success producing hits such as "El Bacano", "Rechenchén", "El Ñoñito" and "los hombres maduro". Mendez recorded three hit albums with Rokabanda. In 1995 Mendez decided to go solo and released his much anticipated solo album "El Hombre Merengue" which sold 1.5 million copies, a rare feat for a Tropical Artist. Mendez was responsible for the 1997 song "El Vuelo 587",
[Dominguez, Robert.]
Joyful Song's Tragic Tug
" ''New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
''. Wednesday November 14, 2001. Retrieved on November 11, 2011. "Mendez wrote "El Avion (The Airplane)" in 1997 as a Christmas song about the joy of flying home to the Dominican Republic for the holidays. Performed by Mendez and fellow merengue star Johnny Ventura, "El Avion" appeared on "Merenboom, Vol. 2," a holiday album featuring several merengue acts." which pays tribute to
American Airlines Flight 587
American Airlines Flight 587 was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Las Américas International Airport in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. On November 12, 200 ...
, an early morning departure flight from
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to
Santo Domingo
, total_type = Total
, population_density_km2 = auto
, timezone = AST (UTC −4)
, area_code_type = Area codes
, area_code = 809, 829, 849
, postal_code_type = Postal codes
, postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional)
, websi ...
,
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
.
[Kugel, Seth. "Now Boarding, Dreams." '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. November 18, 2001
2
Retrieved on November 11, 2011. "'Since everyone knows one other, from the beginning people start talking and talking,' said Kinito Méndez, the popular merengue singer who had made the trip so often he featured it in his and Johnny Ventura's song ''Flight 587,'' later released as ''The Plane.'' and "'The guy next to you says, 'Hey, we'll see each other there, we'll go buy some whiskey, a bottle of rum,' added Mr. Méndez, whose former manager, Papi LaFontaine, died in Monday's crash." Mendez partially wrote the lyrics, and he and
Johnny Ventura
Juan de Dios Ventura Soriano (8 March 1940 – 28 July 2021), better known as Johnny Ventura nicknamed , was a Dominican singer and band leader of merengue and salsa. The merengue legend was a legislator of the Lower House between 1982 and 198 ...
sung the song, which was one of the songs in "Merenboom, Vol. 2."
[ Méndez himself had been a passenger on the flight before the November 12, 2001 accident flight had occurred. The song was later re-released as "The Plane,"][ The aircraft on the flight crashed in 2001.][Smith, Patrick.]
Don't blame the pilot for the crash of Flight 587. The truth is much more complicated.
" ''Salon.com
''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/ liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events.
Content and coverage
''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...
''. November 5, 2004. Retrieved on November 11, 2011. "In 1996, long before the accident, a merengue star named Kinito Mendez paid a sadly foreboding tribute with his song “El Avion.” “How joyful it could be to go on Flight 587,” sang Mendez, immortalizing the popular daily nonstop." Papi LaFontaine, who once served as Méndez's manager, died in the 2001 accident flight.[
]
Discography
* El Hombre Merengue (1995)
* El Decreto de Kinito Méndez (1997)
* A Caballo... (1998)
* Su Amigo (1999)
* D'Colores (2000)
* A Palo Limpio (2001)
* Sigo Siendo el Hombre Merengue (2002)
* Celebra Conmigo (2004)
* Con Sabor a Mi (2006)
* La Fábrica (2008)
Compilations
* Los Éxitos de Kinito Méndez (1995)
* Cachamba 96: The Unreleased Versions (1996)
* Sólo Éxitos (1998)
* 20th Anniversary (1999)
* 12 Éxitos (2001)
* 20 Éxitos (2002)
* Éxitos de Kinito Méndez (2005)
* Vida (2009)
Pa' Ti Pa' Mi Records
* El Hombre Merengue (1996)
* Vale la Pena (1998)
The Record Label for all Kinito Recordings throughout the 90s was J & N RECORDS and never Pa' Ti' Pa' Mi Records. Any authorized uses of the masters on Kinito's album were MASTER LICENSES and not that this, or any other label, had the rights.
Videography
* A Caballo... (1999)
* Ayer y Hoy (2005)
Web
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendez, Kinito
20th-century Dominican Republic male singers
21st-century Dominican Republic male singers
Merengue musicians
Latin music songwriters
Living people
1963 births