Pedro Ortiz Dávila

Pedro Secundino Ortiz Dávila (born May 21, 1912 in Bayamón , Puerto Rico ; † July 8, 1986 ibid), known under the name Davilita , was a Puerto Rican singer .

Ortiz began training at the music academy in his hometown at the age of ten. There he was a student of Eleuterio Meléndez and Ángel Costoso and learned to play the flute and euphonium. In 1927 he came to New York, where he worked as a courier for a pillow factory and learned to play the guitar himself. ! In 928 he composed his first song, the tango El leproso . In the following year he founded his first group with Johnny Rodríguez , the Junior Quartet , which only existed for a short time.

In 1930 he joined the Sexteto de Pedro Flores , with whom he recorded as a soloist from 1931, including successes such as Celos , Dávila sonriendo , Nene , Palomita and Vete (1932), Adorada ilusión , and Blancas azucenas (1933), Carmelita , Martita and Yo no puedo (1934) and Linda , Sin bandera , Ciego de amor and Dame tu amor (1935).

In 1934 he also joined the orchestra of the Cuban flautist Alberto Socarrás . It was there that Rafael Hernández discovered him , who accepted him into his Grupo Victoria as the successor to Alberto Carmona . With Hernández, Rafael Rodríguez and the guitarist Francisco López Cruz , the Vicoria Quartet became famous in Puerto Rico with recordings such as Desmayo and Desolvo de amor (1934), Prexiosa and Campanitas de cristal (1935).

In 1935 he was a singer in the orchestra of Augusto Coén for several months . In the following year he founded the Quinteto La Plata , to which Rafael Rodríguez, Eufemio Vázquez , Juan Reyes and a Cuban named El Tampeñito , later Chencho Moraza , Fausto Delgado , Monchito Reyes , Cándido Vincentí , Monchito Ortega and others belonged. Her most popular piece was the Bolero Rio Abajo . In 1937 he returned to the Sexteto Flores , with which he recorded around 400 songs as a solo singer.

With Rafael Rodríguez he joined the orchestra of Noro Morales in 1938 , with whom, however, only a few recordings were made due to his voice, which was impaired by excessive alcohol consumption. In the following years his musical career was affected by his alcohol addiction, which he only overcame in 1949 after serving a prison sentence. After that he recorded some duets with Claudio Ferrer and Chago Alvarado (including Orphandad and Ansias locas ) on the Rival label .

After an operation on the vocal cords in 1953, he was able to build on his old successes as a partner of the bolero singer Felipe Rodríguez with performances at all Hispanic theaters in New York, New Jersey, Chicago and Philadelphia. In 1970 he was honored as Cantante Nacional de Puerto Rico .

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• Fundación Nacional para la cultura popular - Davilita
• Pedro Ortiz Dávila in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Pedro Ortiz Dávila at Discogs (English)
• Pedro Ortiz Dávila at Allmusic (English)