Page 35 - NSA GALA JOURNAL 2015

Toño Rosario
Máximo Antonio del Rosario (born November 3, 1955), commonly known as Toño Rosario, is a five-time Grammy winner merengue musician, born in Higuey, Dominican Republic to a Dominican father and a Puerto Rican mother. Featured composer, and former lead singer of the merengue group “Los Hermanos Rosario”, Toño Rosario known by names such as “El Cuco” is a singer, composer, arranger and producer. As a member of Los Hermanos Rosario, Rosario has been a key figure in popularizing Merengue, with hits reaching the top of the Billboard Latin charts and the top of charts in Europe. Rosario is the top selling merengue artist of all time, has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, and the first solo merengue act to ever sell out Madison Square Garden.
Toño Rosario and his brothers were always interested in music, they recall finding whatever instruments they could in household items since they were born in poverty and could not afford real musical instruments. The group that Toño started was called “Los Hermanos Rosario” and it consisted of himself, Pepe and Rafa as the lead singers of the group and the rest of the brothers Luis, Tony and Francis as the rest of the band. They used to play in their neighbors houses and this is how they eventually got to be known and discovered. After the death of their brother Pepe, Toño and Rafa took the lead in the band with Toño as the main singer due to his unique and highly recognized voice.
In the late 1980s, after spending 12 years with his brothers in one of the most famous Dominican bands of its time, Toño decided to leave the group and began his solo career. Making his debut in Puerto Rico on April 14, 1990, in the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan. He went on to become the most popular merengue singer with some of his albums reaching diamond status.