Sergio Pascual Vargas Parra (

Villa Altagracia Villa Altagracia is a municipality (''municipio'') of the San Cristóbal province in the Dominican Republic. Within the municipality there are three municipal districts (''distritos municipal''): La Cuchilla, Medina and San José del Puerto. C ...

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 with ...

, March 15, 1960) is a performer of merengue and

bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has ...

, who was very popular in the 80s and 90s, during the "golden age of merengue" and today remains active as one of the leading figures in Dominican merengue. His brothers, Kaki and Johnny, are also interpreters of the genre and have been by his side for much of their respective musical careers. Vargas was a deputy for the

Dominican Liberation Party The Dominican Liberation Party ( Spanish: Partido de la Liberación Dominicana, referred to here by its Spanish acronym, the PLD) is a political party in the Dominican Republic. Founded in 1973 by former president Juan Bosch, the party, along ...

representing his people Villa Altagracia in the period 2006–2010.

Career

Known as El negrito de Villa, Vargas participated in the Festival of the Voice organized by the Dominican musician

Rafael Solano Rafael Solano Sánchez (born 10 April 1931 in San Felipe de Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic) is a Dominican pianist, songwriter, composer, arranger, author, and former Dominican ambassador to UNESCO.Fernando Villalona Fernando Villalona, the first artist named "El Mayimbe" (born in Loma de Cabrera, Dajabón Province on May 7, 1955, Ramón Fernando Villalona Évora), is a Dominican merengue singer who began singing in the early 1970s, his popularity started ...

and Raulín Rosendo. It was in this group that its popularity began to grow, so much so that the group had fan clubs in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Panama and the East Coast of the United States. In 1986 Sergio released his first LP under the Karen Records label. This LP includes the single "La quiero a morir" (''I Love Her to Death''), which is the Spanish version of "Je l'aime à mourir" by the French singer

Francis Cabrel Francis Christian Cabrel (; born 23 November 1953) is a French singer-songwriter, composer and guitarist. Considered one of the most influential French musical artists of all time, he has released a number of albums falling mostly within the real ...

. In 1987 he recorded another album with Los Hijos del Rey titled "the earth quaked", with which he achieved great success. At the moment Sergio launched as a soloist, most of the musicians left with him, except for Diómedes Nuñez and shortly after Orvis García. The arrangements for this production are by Sonny Ovalles and his pianist Juan Valdez. The singles of this production are "Ciclón (indoor party)", "Marola", "On the other side of the sun", "Bamboleo", "This humble house", "Days of June" and "Black Pearl".

Albums / LP

* I love her to death (1986) *The Earth Trembled (1987) *Cyclone (Festa do interior) (1988) *The unconditional (1989) *This is my country (1991) *Bullfighter (1992) *By H or by R (1993) *The meringue is danced and danced (1994) *Like a bolero (1994) *Love Fraud (1995) *Just Meringue (1995) *My proposal (1996) *Time of love (1997) *Together (1998) *On-time (1999) *Once Upon a Meringue (1999) *Another era (with Los Panchos) (1999) *From Sergio Vargas to José Feliciano (2000) *Go and tell him (2001) *Bohemian Live (2003) *Bohemian (2004) *His successes in bachata (2004) *New, old and half-used loves (2009)

Compilations

*The Golden Years (1994) *The Best (1994) *Brilliant (with

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 ...

) (1994) *Musical history (1995) *Success Story (1995) *Face to face (with

) (1997) *The man and its meringue (1998) *Big hits (1999) *Meringue gold (2000) *Series 2000 (2000) *Between friends (with

Fernando Villalona Fernando Villalona, the first artist named "El Mayimbe" (born in Loma de Cabrera, Dajabón Province on May 7, 1955, Ramón Fernando Villalona Évora), is a Dominican merengue singer who began singing in the early 1970s, his popularity started ...

) (2000) *Meringue (2001) *22 Ultimate Hits (2002) *Together (2002) *Gold Collection: 15 Successes (2002) *Tropical Blue Series (2003) *15 Favorite Songs (2003) *Diamond Collection (2004) *Sabrosonas of the memory (2005) *20 years are nothing (2005) *20 original hits (2005) *2 great voices of Quisqueya the beautiful (with Eddy Herrera) (2007) *Collectible 10 (2007) *A singer, 3 facets, a great artist (2008) *My favorites (2010) *Face to face (with Toño Rosario) (2013) *Great voices of the century collection

Songs

With the Children of the King *For her *My pride *A Man and a Woman *

Je l'aime à mourir "Je l'aime à mourir" ( en, I Love Her to Death) is a French-language song written by Francis Cabrel. It is taken from his second album ''Les Chemins de traverse'' released in 1979 that sold over 600,000 copies in France. The single "Je l'aime � ...

(I love her to death) *Oh Mariana *The earth quaked *Let's leave it *If you ever see her With Dionis Fernández & Orquesta *The designers *To the rhythm of the night With The Singer Arena *Is not easy As soloist *Marola (written by Luis Días) *The earth quaked *The vampires *Girlfriend *Too bad for so much love *Ragdoll (

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: ...

) *The little window *Heart of stone *The pill *tell him *Sorrows to the wind *Magic *A cigarette, the rain and you *Like a bolero *Women *Neither you nor I *Bad memory *Oh my god *What have you believed *Lost bullet *Go and tell *What's up sweetheart *It is going to hurt you *Last night we talked about love *Tell me where *My brunette

Covers

, (by the French singer

) *Bamboléo (from the Spanish flamenco group

Gipsy Kings Gipsy Kings are a group of flamenco, salsa, and pop musicians from Arles and Montpellier in southern France, who perform mostly in Catalan but also mix in Spanish with southern French dialects. Although the group members were born in France, th ...

) *This humble house (by the Brazilian singer

Roberto Carlos Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), commonly known as Roberto Carlos, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who now works as a football ambassador. He started his career in Brazil as a forward but spent most of his car ...

) *Black Pearl (from the Venezuelan singer

Yordano Yordano, born Giordano Di Marzo Migani, is an Italian–born Venezuelan singer-songwriter and guitar player.Peñin, José; Guido, Walter. (1998). ''Enciclopedia de la Música en Venezuela''. Fundación Bigott, Caracas. . Early life Born on Oct ...

) *The unconditional (from singer Luis Miguel) * I try to forget you (played by Nicaraguan

Hernaldo Zúñiga Hernaldo Zúñiga (born June 2, 1955) is a Nicaraguan singer-songwriter. He was born in Managua, but spent his childhood and adolescence in Masaya. Career While he was studying in Chile, in 1973, Zúñiga recorded his first 45 rpm single with ...

); composed by Manuel Alejandro. *Bullfighter (with

José Alberto "El Canario" José Alberto Justiniano (born December 22, 1959, in Villa Consuelo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic), better known by his stage name José Alberto "El Canario", is a salsa singer from the Dominican Republic. José Alberto moved to Puerto Ri ...

; original song by

Julio Iglesias Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer, songwriter and former professional footballer. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top record ...

and José Luis Rodríguez) *Until you forget me (performed by Luis Miguel and written by

Juan Luis Guerra Juan Luis Guerra Seijas (born June 7, 1957) is a Dominican musician, singer, composer, and record producer. He has sold 30 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling Latin music artists. Throughout his career, he has wo ...

) *Oh! woman (originally performed by

) *Scandal (played by

Javier Solís Gabriel Siria Levario (4 September 1931 – 19 April 1966), known professionally as Javier Solís, was a Mexican singer and actor. He specialized in the musical genres of bolero and ranchera. Early life Gabriel Siria Levario was the first of ...

) *Forgive me, forget it (with Gisselle; originally performed by Juan_Gabriel_and_Rocío_Dúrcal) *To_say_goodbye_(with_Gisselle;_originally_performed_by_José_Feliciano.html" ;"title="Rocío_Dúrcal.html" ;"title="Juan Gabriel and Rocío Dúrcal">Juan Gabriel and Rocío Dúrcal) *To say goodbye (with Gisselle; originally performed by José Feliciano">Rocío_Dúrcal.html" ;"title="Juan Gabriel and Rocío Dúrcal">Juan Gabriel and Rocío Dúrcal) *To say goodbye (with Gisselle; originally performed by José Feliciano and Ann Kelly) *That which you gave me (interpreted by Alejandro Sanz) *El negrito del Batey (played by Alberto Beltrán) *The Broken Cup (originally performed by

José Feliciano José Montserrate Feliciano García (born September 10, 1945) () is a Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song " F ...

) *After you what? (originally performed by

) *Why do I have to forget you? (originally performed by

) *Tell Me Heart (originally performed by Amaury Gutiérrez) *What once was will not be (originally performed by

José José José Rómulo Sosa Ortiz (17 February 1948 – 28 September 2019), known professionally as José José, was a Mexican singer and actor. Born into a family of musicians, José began his musical career in his early teens playing guitar and sin ...

) *I live for her (originally performed by

Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor and multi-instrumentalist. He was born visually impaired, with congenital glaucoma, and at the age of 12, Bocelli became completely blind, following a brain hemorrhage resulting fr ...

and Marta Sánchez) *To live (composed and performed by Pablo Milanés)

Achievements

In 2018 he received the Great Sovereign during the celebration of the 2018 Sovereign Awards, where he thanked his award with a speech in favor of education for Dominican musicians. In 1988 he was awarded by the Association of Art Writers of the

with a Cassandra (nowadays known as sovereign awards) for his concert titled Sergio. This concert was awarded as a show of the year. Sergio Vargas also won the Casandra award for the best video clip for the song "Las vampires" by the composer Luis Días. In 1989

CBS International CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

offered him a record deal. After much contemplation, he left Karen Records and signed with CBS. In 1991 it was a very productive year for Sergio Vargas' career; after participating in the television program "This is my country" he was awarded the Casandra (today called sovereign awards) award. He also received the Casandra award for his international projection and singing in places like New York's Madison Square Garden in front of 20,000 spectators at the Merengue Carnival. Under the direction of producer and director Jean Louis Jorge. Sergio shot a special program for Sony Music International. In 1993 he received a gold record, and was also one of the singers who participated in the famous Eight Street Festival in the city of Miami. In 2018 in the largest demonstration held to artists in the

called awards Cassandra (nowadays known as sovereign awards). Sergio Vargas had a special participation in the awards. After the participation, they gave him the recognition as THE GREAT SOVEREIGN (artist of greatest importance in the

and internationally). In 2021, Vargas won the

Latin Grammy Award for Best Merengue/Bachata Album The Latin Grammy Award for Best Merengue/Bachata Album is an honor presented annually at the Latin Grammy Awards, a ceremony that recognizes excellence and creates a wider awareness of cultural diversity and contributions of Latin recording artists ...

. Today Sergio is known and recognized as the artist of the Homeland and his group one of the most active orchestras in the field. Countries such as Colombia, Cali, Bogota, Santa Marta, Cucuta, Ocaña, Medellin, among others, recognize Sergio as the favorite merengue of all time. His fame is so great that even in the city of Cali in the town of (Chipichapi) there are hotels that bear his name in his main suid.

Golden Congos

Awarded at the Barranquilla Carnival Orchestra Festival Festival de Orquestas del Carnaval de Barranquilla:

Activism

During the term of

Hipólito Mejía Rafael Hipólito Mejía Domínguez (born 22 February 1941) is a Dominican politician who served as President of the Dominican Republic from 2000 to 2004. During his presidential term in office the country was affected by one of its worst econ ...

(2000–2004), Sergio Vargas decided to stop cutting his hair in protest until the government fixed all the streets of his hometown

. To this day, Sergio still has his long hair, for Sergio, not cutting his hair is a symbol of a Revolutionary and he always has his roots in mind and the constant struggle for

to be recognized as what he is today.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vargas, Sergio 20th-century Dominican Republic male singers Dominican Republic songwriters Male songwriters Latin music songwriters Bolero singers Merengue musicians Living people 21st-century Dominican Republic male singers 1960 births Latin Grammy Award winners