Rubby Pérez, the singer who was performing on Tuesday when the ceiling of the Jet Set nightclub collapsed in Santo Domingo, claiming at least 124 lives including his own, spent his long career devoted to merengue, the signature style of the Dominican Republic.
Wilfrido Vargas, the band leader who gave Pérez his big break in the early 1980s, called him “the best singer the genre has ever produced” upon learning of his bandmate’s death. At the outset of their collaboration, Vargas dubbed the singer “the loudest voice of merengue,” an appellation the vocalist wore proudly. An enthusiastic performer, Pérez brought high spirits even to ballads, but he specialized in rousing, spirited numbers where his clarion voice commanded attention over a dance band’s bustling rhythms.
Music was Pérez’s second choice for a career. As a teenager, he harbored hopes of baseball stardom, dreams that came to an end when his right leg was fractured in an auto accident when he was 15. During his convalescence, he found solace in the guitar, which he called his “new bat.” He started singing in a church choir and, by the end of the 1970s, he dedicated himself to music, studying at Santo Domingo’s National Conservatory of Music.
Initially drawn to bolero, he embraced the widespread popularity of merengue in the Dominican Republic (it has also gained a significant foothold in Venezuela). He made his professional debut as part of Los Pitagoras del Ritmo, sang in Los Juveniles de Bani, then replaced Fernando Villalona in Los Hijos del Rey, spending three years with the outfit before joining Vargas’s orchestra in 1980.
Vargas provided the launchpad for Pérez’s career, giving him a pair of signature hits in “El Africano” and “Volveré,” which allowed him to embark on a solo career in 1987. His last album, “Hecho Esta,” arrived in 2022, but he made his mark in the 1980s, when both he and merengue broke out of the Dominican Republic. Here are five of his signature songs. (Listen on Spotify or Apple Music.)
‘El Africano’ (1983)
Pérez made his recording debut as the lead singer in the band led by Vargas, and the single “El Africano” from Vargas’s 1983 album “El Funcionario” was a Latin hit. It’s a brassy merengue, with Pérez’s high vocals punctuated by saxophones and a raucous trombone. The lyrics may strike modern listeners as offensive (“Mommy, what does the Black man want?” Pérez repeatedly sings, from the perspective of “a little Black girl”). The backing vocals answer, between mock-African interjections, “He wants some.” The track was later sampled by Pitbull for his 2007 single “The Anthem.”
‘Volveré’ (1985)
One of his last recordings with Vargas, “Volveré” became one of Pérez’s signatures. A cover of a song first cut by the flamenco singer Chiquetete, “Volveré” is transformed by Vargas into an infectious merengue number that captures Pérez’s theatrical flair. The singer balked at the cover at first. “I said I couldn’t sing it in that key, and they told me it didn’t matter; we should sing it backwards, doing the low notes first and then the high notes after I was warmed up,” he once said. “We started from the back and, thank God, after all this time, I can sing that song in that key.” This backward construction gives “Volveré” unstoppable momentum.
‘Buscando Tus Besos’ (1987)
Pérez’s solo stardom was cemented by “Buscando Tus Besos,” the lead single from his self-titled debut. A streamlined arrangement and bright production give the single a breezier feel than the hits the singer had with Vargas, a shift in tone that helped its accompanying album climb to No. 15 on Billboard’s Tropical Albums chart in 1987.
‘Enamorado De Ella’ (1988)
Riding the momentum of “Buscando Tus Besos,” Pérez reached No. 29 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart with “Enamorado De Ella.” An unabashed love song, “Enamorado De Ella” wears its romanticism in its execution, not its tempo. Pérez never pushes to the upper reaches of his range, instead choosing to sing with a tenderness that warms the song’s lively horns and vibrant rhythms.
‘Tú Vas a Volar’ (1999)
Originally released on his 1999 album “Vuelve El Merengue,” “Tú Vas a Volar” became Pérez’s highest-charting single in the United States, reaching No. 9 on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay charts in 2001. Despite its crisp, uncluttered production, the single doesn’t feel like a crossover concession. Instead, it shows how Pérez could adapt to shifting styles and fashion while retaining the robust vocal style that was his signature.
