José Valladares Aguiar

He was born in an old tiled house, as his great success in the province of Villa Clara tells it. Along with his parents José Valladares Oramas and his mother Cuba Aguiar, he moved to the capital of the Republic in the 1940s.

Born into a family of important artists in the history of Cuban popular music, and we're talking about his father José Cheo Valladares who from childhood made him feel a marked interest in music.

Pepe has recounted that since he was six or seven years old he was always with his father who took him to the Cabaret Bambú, where he performed with his orchestra and was always close to those great musicians who made up that group, especially Negro Vivar who later would triumph as a first-rate trumpeter with Pérez Prado's Orchestra, or Walfrido de los Reyes, drummer, Manteca, the king of the bongos, Rafael Somavilla, who was at that time an excellent pianist, and thus countless important artists who transcended within Cuban music.

As a young man he was called to Active Military Service and during that time he was already making his compositions and began to sing them as an amateur within the Armed Forces. Once Military Service was completed he began working at the Prensa Latina News Agency as a teletype operator, but he continued studying music and making his compositions, until in 1969 Eugenio Fernández, who sang in the group Los Reyes, decided to include in his repertoire a song that quickly became a hit, that one "El aire que mi rosa recuerda".

In the early seventies, Beatriz Márquez rises to the top of popularity alongside Miguel Chávez with that unforgettable duet "Dejaré que el tiempo pase", until in March of that same year he records "Ni la casa ni yo", which was his first great success as a singer and as a composer and it is precisely what everyone calls him.

From that moment until now he has not stopped composing and what makes it more particular is that Valladares composes for a varied range of genres and interpretive styles.

He begins the seventies occupying the first places of popularity, not only as an interpreter but also as a composer since the majority of the most popular singers come to ask him for songs and because of this, the sound universe and the small screen became flooded with the music of Pepe Valladares.

As an interpreter José Valladares (son) works his repertoire with all contemporary music, being applauded by almost all the audiences of the American continent and part of the European one, since he has performed in: Angola, 1978, Montevideo Uruguay, 1991, Buenos Aires, Argentina 1991, Veracruz, Mexico, 1993, United States of North America, 1995, Oaxaca, Mexico 1999 and Madrid, Spain, 2000 have had his personal presence, but his music has been performed in about twenty countries with similar success to what he has achieved in his country.

José Valladares has been a winner of a good number of national and international contests and festivals among which we can highlight his presentation at the Dresden Festival in Germany, where he defends the colors of Cuba with a German song titled, Vengan juntos and another of his own Oh, no cambies querida, in addition to his recognized finalist songs in the beginning of the Adolfo Guzmán Contest that later transcended as anthological songs within Cuban popular music such as Hay días que quisiera ser el niño aquel, performed by Sergio Farias and Canción de este tiempo in the voice of Gustavo Felipe Remedios, or in the OTI in which for two consecutive years (1991 and 1992) he took third place with the songs Guitarra que ha dejado de sonar and Soñaba, until in 1993 he obtained the right to represent Cuba in the OTI that would be held in Valencia, Spain with that Amor de miedo that made us discover Manolo Sánchez, a singer of high caliber. The Ecological Festival of Guajaca in Mexico awarded him with the song Tiempos difíciles, performed by José Gómez, currently a singer with Pupy y los que son son.

In the eighties through the early nineties, when this interpreter and composer of ours had the greatest success, he disappeared from the sound universe and the small screen. The reasons, even Valladares himself never knew, but he returned in 1991 with fresh airs, with his triumphs in the recently begun in Cuba OTI Festival and even currently he maintains his creative genius, to the point that the General Society of Authors and Publishers (SGAE) has judged the composer and his work as one of the most recognized in recent times within the history of Cuban popular music, which is why he was selected to perform in Spain.

To name Valladares' songs that have occupied the top places in popularity would be a long list. Let us recall some of them such as Ni la casa ni yo, La chica de la calle trece and Así es la vida popularized in his own voice, and songs defended by other interpreters such as the very musical Beatriz Márquez with Regresa, no más lejos de ti and Prefiero ser algún recuerdo, Elizabeth de Gracia with Y así seré feliz, it is also worth remembering the huge hit in the voice of Ojedita Nadie va a quererte como yo in country rhythm, in the 90s stands out Guitarra que ha dejado de sonar in the voice of Issac Delgado a song with which he wins third place at the OTI Festival 1991, La Parranda, performed masterfully by Manolito Simonet and his Trabuco which was the most popular song in 1998 or Dicen que dices by Pupy y los que son son, which has occupied the top places of popularity in several European countries such as Italy and Germany, Amor y fortuna in the voice of Alfredo Rodríguez and the song Sin tu amor me muero which Coco Freeman performs, the version made by singer Alwin Damián of the song Soñaba, in addition to the interpretations of the young singer Claudio Rodríguez of the songs Acuérdate de mi and Mañana Será un dia Para Amar, both broadcast on Cuban radio (2014-2015).

Dance music is also a strong point in Valladares' authorial work and many dance groups have included his songs such as Neno González's Orchestra, La Ritmo Oriental, La Monumental, Manolito Simonet and his Trabuco, Eliades Ochoa with Grupo Caña Santa and Pupy y los que Son Son, Fiebre Latina, transcending the borders of our country.

Internationally known are versions of his compositions in the voices of singers of the caliber of Marco Antonio Muñiz, Lucecita Benítez, Sergio Vargas, Johnny Ray, the group Son by Four and Rey Ruíz among others.

Although all his songs became very popular, Valladares decided to include in his repertoire a version of a song by Roberto Carlos, the well-known Millón de amigos that even many people thought was his own, especially because he made a very Cuban and very personal version, so much so that today he is called that, the man of a million friends.

Awards Obtained

First Prize at the Dresden Festival, Germany, 1978, with his song "Y así seré feliz"
Third prize in the Adolfo Guzmán contest, 1979, with his song "Sobran razones"
Third prize in the National OTI Contest 1991, with his work "Guitarra que ha dejado de sonar"
Third Prize in the national OTI contest 1992, with his work "Soñaba" defended by Rafael Sánchez Yero
First Prize in the National OTI Contest 1993, with his song "Amor de miedo", defended by Manolo Sánchez. Upon obtaining this prize, Pepe Valladares Aguiar wins the right to represent Cuba at the International OTI Festival in Spain.
First Prize at the Ecological Music Festival 1999.
First Prize in Oaxaca, Mexico with his song "Tiempos difíciles".

Current News
Currently, Valladares is doing very praiseworthy work with the musicalization of renowned Latin American poets and is preparing an album with the work of Pablo Neruda (Soneto 92 and La Risa), Andrés Eloy Blanco (Silencio and A Florinda en invierno), Rubén Martínez Villena (Canción del sainete póstumo), Nicolás Guillén (El abismo and Manos la de la madre), César Vallejo (El poeta a su amada) and our José Martí (A Emma).

There is a fact that becomes undeniable today and it is that despite his ten years of silence, more than twenty without being able to record an album, his discreet appearances on radio and television, he is a composer who remains alive, that even new generations of musicians and singers are always searching for his creations, and without a doubt, wherever the presence of the man of a million friends is announced, public success is assured, because much more than a million friends I would dare to assert that Valladares, among Cubans, has, if not all eleven million to not be absolute, then ten and more friends who are his followers always and forever.