Wilfrido Vargas, born Wilfrido Radamés Vargas Martínez on April 24, 1949, in Altamira, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, worked as a bandleader, trumpeter, vocalist, arranger, composer and producer whose efforts helped turn merengue into a global sensation. He started formal training at the Municipal Academy of Music when he reached ten years old. By the time he turned twelve he already served as trumpet soloist and led a modest neighborhood ensemble. Commercial and critical breakthroughs arrived only after he entered his twenties. His group Los Beduinos cut its debut record, Wilfrido Vargas y sus Beduinos, for the Karen imprint in 1974. That release marked the first of seventeen albums Vargas would complete for Karen while simultaneously guiding younger merengue players. Pianist and composer Sonny Ovalle supplied half the material on the opening album, shaped the group’s distinctive approach and later added key tracks to Vargas’ major 1980s successes.
The singer’s initial breakthrough arrived with his fourth Karen release, Punto y Aparte!, issued in 1978. The project yielded the popular track “El Barbarazoí” and helped ignite worldwide enthusiasm for merengue, opening doors for many Dominican performers. A string of successful 1980s albums followed, opening with the 1982 duet set Wilfrido Vargas y Sandy Reyes that paired him with Los Beduinos singer Sandy Reyes. In 1987 Vargas moved to Sonotone and delivered five projects for the company, among them Animation, which earned a Grammy nomination in 1989. Beginning in 1991 he recorded for Rodven, maintaining stature within merengue circles yet never regaining the peak visibility of the previous decade. Beyond strictly merengue work, he also played an important role with the Fania All-Stars, taking part in their landmark 1979 Cuban concerts and appearing on the resulting Habana Jam album captured live in Havana on March 3 of that year.
