History of Johnny Ventura in Timeline

March 1940

Juan de Dios Ventura Soriano (8 March 1940 – 28 July 2021), better known as Johnny Ventura nicknamed El Caballo Mayor, was a Dominican singer and band leader of merengue and salsa.

1959

In 1959, Juan de Dios decided to take the name 'Johnny Ventura'. He started his career as a singer in several bands that presented themselves at the dances in La Feria. He worked with the orchestra of Rondón Votau and in 1961 with the band of the Dominican percussionist Donald Wild.

1962

In 1962 he sang with Combo Caribe of Luis Pérez, with whom he recorded Cuidado Con el Cuabero, of which he was the author, and La Agarradera, of Luis Pérez. It was with this band that he recorded his first LP consisting of 12 songs.

1963

In 1963, Johnny Ventura was recruited by the musical director Papa Molina to join La Super Orquesta San José, of which he was the director at that time. He joined as singer and as player of the güira. For two years Ventura was part of La Super Orquesta with stars such as Vinicio Franco and Grecia Aquino. Although no records remain of this group, this period was a landmark in his career.

1964

In 1964, the Cuban impresario Angel Guinea insisted that Johnny Ventura create his own orchestra, the "Combo Show" which is known as an important part of the history of popular Dominican music.

1965

In 1965, with his orchestra, Ventura recorded for the Fonogram label the albums La Coquetona, La Resbalosa and El Turun Tun Tun. In 1967 he travelled to the United States, where he immediately became a star. He is credited with the song "La muerte de Martin", with the voice of Luisito Martí, the Combo Show made their first golden record with Ah..! Yo No Se... No (1971).

1999

In 1999, Ventura was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame and won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the same organization in 2003.

2004

In 2004, he received the Latin Grammy Award for Best Merengue/Bachata Album for his album Sin Desperdicio; also, he was nominated for Best Merengue Album (2006), Best Contemporary Tropical Album (2010) and Best Salsa Album (2016) categories. In 2006, he received the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2022, he entered the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame.

2006

In 2006, Ventura was presented with the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by the Latin Recording Academy in recognition of his career.

March 2020

On 28 March 2020, Ventura announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic and was hospitalized. On 13 April 2020, he announced he had recovered and had tested negative for the coronavirus.

July 28, 2021

Ventura died from a heart attack on July 28, 2021, at the age of 81.