Bobby Rafael, born Rafael Parra and also known as «La Bobina», is a Dominican singer of merengue, salsa and bolero, remembered as one of the defining voices of orquesta merengue in the 1980s and 1990s and as a founding member of two of its landmark bands, Cocoband and Rokabanda.

Training and early orchestras

Parra trained at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música before working his way through some of the era's busiest touring orchestras, among them Juan Luis y Sus Mulatos and the Típica Dominicana. He joined Aníbal Bravo's orchestra, where he sang lead on «La Revancha» (1984) and «Antes de Morir» (1985), and in 1986 moved from Bravo's band to Richie Ricardo y su Orquesta.

Cocoband

Around the turn of the 1990s Parra became a founding member of Pochy y su Cocoband, led by Pochy Familia, one of the orchestras that pushed merengue toward the faster, street-driven sound of the decade; he was among its lead voices during that run.

Rokabanda

With the singer Kinito Méndez, Parra went on to co-found Rokabanda in 1992, an orchestra built around dense, hyperactive horn arrangements that made it one of the era's most talked-about acts; the group was recognized at the Premios Casandra that year. Parra and Méndez, who remained close collaborators and compadres, continued working together for years afterward, and songs such as «Llorona» and «El Batecito» carried his voice into the following decades.

Recognition

In April 2021, after suffering a stroke that ended his time on stage, Parra was honored as «Estrella por Siempre» on the television programme «Pégate y Gana con el Pachá», with tributes from Aníbal Bravo, Pochy Familia and Kinito Méndez, who called him one of merengue's most underrecognized talents.

Legacy

Bobby Rafael passed through more orchestras than almost any other voice of his generation without ever leading one himself under his own name, and colleagues who did lead bands — Aníbal Bravo, Pochy Familia and Kinito Méndez among them — have pointed to him as proof that merengue's orquesta era was built as much on dependable lead singers as on the bandleaders whose names went on the marquee.