Ramón Vicente Pacheco Eusebio, known as Vicente Pacheco and, in his neighborhood, as Vicentico, is a Dominican merengue singer from Villa Consuelo, Santo Domingo. He is remembered as a lead voice of Wilfrido Vargas's «Los Beduinos» in the 1970s and for «Tus 20 Años», the merengue that made the name of his own orchestra in 1988.

Origins and training

Pacheco was born in Villa Consuelo, the youngest of seven children. From childhood he sang in school competitions and church choirs and played drums, and he studied at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música, where his training was in lyric singing and harmony rather than in popular music.

With Wilfrido Vargas

In 1969, when Pacheco was about fifteen by his own account, Wilfrido Vargas came to his home looking for a young singer and, with his mother's permission, took him to rehearse; that same night he played his first engagement with the group, a birthday party. He joined «Los Beduinos», the band that later carried Vargas's name, and sang and did backing vocals on its records. Discogs lists him on albums by Wilfrido Vargas y sus Beduinos from 1973 to 1979, and the songs tied to his years in the group include «Dolorita», «El Jarro Pichao», «Así, Así», «Las Avispas», and «No Me Pises los Zapatos». Pacheco says he gave the traditional melody of «El Jarro Pichao» a new harmonic treatment, and that «Así, Así» was the song that first took the group abroad.

In November 1975 he left the orchestra, having been accepted to study in the United States, and Sandy Reyes took his place. In New York he sang with the group of Héctor Lavoe, whom he had met during his years with Vargas, covering merengues before Lavoe went on stage. He later returned to the orchestra and left it for good in 1979.

Own recordings

His recordings of these years include «Los Genuinos», an album of merengue and salsa credited to «Los Genuinos» and Pacheco and issued by Karen Records, which Discogs dates to 1978, with «La Boda de la Salsa y el Merengue», «Amor sin Esperanzas», and «La Paloma Mensajera». In 1980 he recorded «A Petición Popular», with his own «Vivir Contigo» and «Mi Viejo Francisco» and arrangements by Sony Ovalles and Enrique Baret. In 1982 came «Talento y Armonía», released by Sono Max Records and produced by Pacheco and Rafael Díaz Gutiérrez, which includes «Se Acabó Mi Vida».

His own orchestra

In the late 1980s he returned to the Dominican Republic and, with his childhood friend José Rosario as executive producer, formed his own orchestra. The album «Tus 20 Años», released in 1988 on Rosario Records, was arranged and directed by Sony Ovalles, who also played piano on it. Its title song is a merengue version of a song by the Spanish group «Los Amaya», written by the brothers Delfín and José Amaya Vásquez, which Pacheco says he first saw on a television program from Spain.

The album also includes «Marilín», «Nunca Nunca», «Kikiriki», «Adolescente Corazón», «Yo Soy el Hombre», «Déjame Enamorarte», and «Alfonsina», a merengue version of «Alfonsina y el Mar». Singles from it were issued under the name Vicente Pacheco y su Orquesta.

Recent years

After the success of «Tus 20 Años» Pacheco chose to stay in the Dominican Republic rather than return to the United States. He keeps performing and takes part in shows that bring together veteran merengue singers, including Henry García, Peter Cruz, Rey Polanco, and Miguel Miguel, in short sets that he says he opens with «Tus 20 Años».