(b Isidro Valdares 14 August ’16 San Pedro de Macoris Dominican Republic) Singer and bandleader. He is also known as the “King of the Merengue” in the USA. He joined the then-small Dominican community in NYC in ’36. After starting his career he toured the US with various rumba bands. Juanito Sanabria, a Puerto Rican singer/guitarist, invited him to join his band. They had a long residency at Havana Madrid on Broadway and performed at the annual NY Daily News Harvest Moon Balls. Dioris began to sing three merengues in the company of Sanabria at Club Caborrojena on upper Broadway. They were so popular that the band had to perform them multiple times per night. The club became a hub for Dominicans in NYC. Rafael Perez, an Ansonia Records boss (b Yauco in Puerto Rico; d’69, New Jersey; founded Ansonia June ‘49), had made merengue recordings in NYC. After hearing about Sanabria’s success at Caborrojena in NYC, Perez signed the quartet for a session. ‘La Amaneca and ‘La Mona were hit in NYC and PR, while Sanabria recorded twelve more merengues on Ansonia. Perez organized the seven-piece accordion/sax-led Conjunto Tipico Cibaeno (El Cibao is believed to be the region of DR where merengue originated), signing up Dioris as lead singer/guiro player and Dominican Angel Viloria as director/accordionist; their recordings took off in NYC’s and other large US Latin communities, Caribbean, South and Central America. Their early hits from the ’50s were collected in three volumes of Angel Viloria and su Conjunto Tipico Cibaeno, which was published by Ansonia. Tipico Cibaeno was disbanded by Ramon Garcia (both Dominican), Viloria, and Luis Quintero (both tambora players), who formed their own bands in ’53. Dioris’s group spent two years at Gloria Palace in NYC’s Germantown Section. His fame as a leader spread quickly to Latin America and he made two volumes of Dioris Valadares and su Conjunto. At the height of the pachanga craze, he signed with Alegre ’61; his debut album Vete Pa’l Colegio (also the producer) featured a hit pachanga title song with music composed by Roger King Mozian with words by Alegre founder Al Santiago. In English, hell is not a bad word. However, hell is a terrible word in Spanish. It was helped by humour.” (quote taken from Salsiology 1992 by Vernon W. Boggs). Title track Pachanga from his Alegre follow up Yo La Vi Vol. He also produced II ’63. He changed to Musicor for CON Pimienta 1968 (reissued by Artol), which was produced by A.
