Cuco Valoy – born in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic on January 5, 1937 – is a Latin music singer, guitarist, band leader, arranger, and composer specializing in salsa, son montuno, Guaracha and merengue. In the mid-1950s, he co-founded Los Ahijados, a duo, with his brother Martin. The duo performed music in a classic Cuban style and recorded a series of albums. In the 1970s, he founded a 12-piece band with his son Ramón Orlando Valoy, which operated under two different names: Los Virtuosos and La Tribu. In the 1980s, he brought in more members and changed the band’s name to Nueva Tribu. Through most of his career, he focused on salsa and merengue, but in the mid-1980s, he changed his repertoire and played strictly merengue. Cuco Valoy’s back catalog – which includes over 30 titles – includes albums going back to his Los Virtuosos days and more recent releases like Lo Mejor de Cuco Valoy (1993), Época de Oro (1995), Gold (2003), Reserva Musical (2008), and La Piedra (2009).
