Dhario Primero, born Darío Evangelista Ortiz de la Hoz, was a Dominican singer, songwriter, and actor considered one of the pioneers of ballad music in the Dominican Republic. Over a career of more than three decades he released fifteen studio albums and songs that remain part of the country's popular repertoire, among them «Mi Manera» and «Sed de Amor».

Origins

He was born on 27 December 1952 in Santiago de los Caballeros, the only child of Lidia Antonia de la Hoz and Narciso Baldemiro Ortiz. His mother gave him the stage name Dhario Primero, for being her first and only child. In the early 1970s he moved to New York, where, drawn to the music of Sandro, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, and the Beatles, he formed the group Las Imágenes with other young Dominican musicians and performed at venues such as the Chateau Madrid and the Happy Hill Casino. The group recorded a first album, «Dharío el Único», in 1971, but it was never released.

A solo career and «Vamos Muchachos Adelante»

In 1980, with the backing of the Cuban producer Tin Valdés Vigil, president of the label T&T Récords, he began a solo career and released his first album, «Selecciones», recorded with musicians from the Radio City Music Hall symphony orchestra. The single «Vamos Muchachos Adelante» drew controversy for its social content, in the style then known as nueva trova, and was banned during the government of Joaquín Balaguer. The album's success carried his name across Puerto Rico and Latin America; on a promotional tour he appeared repeatedly on Raúl Velasco's Siempre en Domingo, and in Mexico was taken under the wing of the actor and comedian Mario Moreno, "Cantinflas."

«Mi Manera» and El Romántico de América

His second album, «Tu Recuerdo Es Mi Amor» (1982), produced his best-known song, «Mi Manera», which spent thirty-two weeks on the Puerto Rico and United States Spanish-language charts tracked at the time by Weekly Top Tunes Review and reached number one in Puerto Rico. The same album gave him a second hit, «Sed de Amor», written by the Argentine songwriter Jorge Char, and earned him two silver records in the United States and a gold record in Puerto Rico. He sang «Tu Recuerdo Es Mi Amor» for the widow of the baseball player Roberto Clemente at the Coliseo that today bears his name, and in 1983 he closed out the television special Hoy Mismo alongside Sonia Silvestre, Olga Lara, and other performers, with President Salvador Jorge Blanco in attendance.

His romantic style led the Argentine singer Sandro to nickname him El Romántico de América. The two worked together on the 1984 album «El Romántico de América», recorded at Sandro's own Excalibur studios in Buenos Aires, and the following year acted alongside each other in the telenovela «Fue Sin Querer».

Later career

After a pause in the late 1980s spent on business ventures, he returned to recording in 1992 with «Tres Amigos a la Buena de Dios», produced by Manuel Tejada with backing vocals from Maridalia Hernández. In 1997 he won a Casandra award for video of the year with «Estampas», an album on which he wrote seven of the ten songs. From 1999 he turned toward bachata, releasing «Añoranzas Bachateras», a collection of genre classics, and «Simplemente, Dhario Primero», and in 2003 recorded a tribute album to Sandro.

Death

Shortly before his death he recorded a final song, «Triste Inventario», dedicated to the Dominican Republic. He died in Orlando, Florida, on 14 May 2025, at seventy-two, after treatment for lung cancer and heart problems, and was remembered by Dominican outlets as one of the defining voices of the golden age of Dominican balada.