The lyrics of the “Rodamón” meringue, which vocalist Charlie Amarante hit in the 80s, could perhaps reflect the last years of his life, immersed in the vice of alcohol and with a look of indigence , in his native Moca, Espaillat province.
“Let me live my life. I’m not bad with anyone. I’m a drunk, I’m a loser, I’m a flirt and I’m a bandit. I live my world, I’m a vagabond. My life to no one it doesn’t matter which way I’ve played, “Charlie sang in the” Rodamón “meringue.
Charlie Amarante, affectionately “Chelo”, was the main singer of the orchestra of Luis Ovalles, recording subjects like: “Beautiful stick”, “The light went away”, “The Phosphor”, “It sinks the ship “,” The law of the funnel “and” the vagabond “.
The vocalist died on Sunday night due to complications caused by excessive alcohol consumption over the years.
+ Dear person
Charlie was a person much loved by his friends. Luis Ovalles even confessed to guide journalists DIARI that he was like a brother a son to him, and that his death seized him with great sadness.
“Charlie was a brother to me, he was part of my family and he lived in my house for a while, even though he was living in Moca. He recorded with me all the songs that were relevant, I preferred him to him. for his loyalty and quality, he was the main vocalist, he was always with me “, Ovalles expressed.
“Chelo” received the support and medical care needed to help get out of the vice, but without much progress. He did not cooperate.
A few years ago, he was put in professional hands by his cousin Carlos Amarante Baret, who took him to a detoxification process and then used him as a school security in Santo Domingo when he was Minister of Education (va exercise from July 20, 2013 to August 16, 2016).
+ Attempts failed
“Alcohol could never control him, no one could. We put him in a health center, I looked for a psychiatrist to treat him. Luis Montalvo treated him and he couldn’t either. Then he went to Moca. , we fixed his house there, but he kept drinking, “said Luis Ovalles.
In December 2019 several country media reported that Charlie was living in a situation of neglect. However, relatives denied that he lived in abandonment, but the singer himself refused to visit the barber and wear appropriate clothing, just on a whim, but not because his family did not pay attention to him.
“What I like is the drink and if it appears brandy I drink it,” the meringue player said a year ago in an interview for the You Tube channel “The classics of Joan Abreu”.
Then I would add, “The only thing I suffer from is the hangover and it gets me out with two sips.”
In that conversation he also said that the only thing he was asking for in life was to be allowed to drink quietly.
+ Of his career
Charlie Amarante began playing the drummer in the group Els Juvenils, by Luis Ovalles, in 1969.
Time later became singer and the stellar voice of the musical group of its compueblano. Few percussionists have achieved this transition to the meringue.
The first track to record was “Beautiful Stick”. When Luis Ovalles heard him sing this meringue he made him record it because he liked it more than the original, and from that moment on he recorded all the group’s hits.
From 1968 to 1991, the orchestra of Luis Ovalles recorded 117 subjects in 13 discs and had apogee during the decades of the 70 and the 80, having to Charlie Amarante like conguero and singer.
Other vocalists who were part of this group were Henry Castro, San Jose, René Caminero, Leo Palau and Johnny Calar.
The Ovalles orchestra was deserving of all the awards of its time, including “El Dorado”, “La Grossa de la Setmana” and Casandra Awards.
+ Your route
In the mid-1990s, when Ovalles disbanded the group, Charlie took other directions. On one of these routes he decided to move to Puerto Plata, where he was working as a singer.
He then moved to Moca, where he took refuge in alcohol. His family, children, friends and neighbors fought to help him, but all efforts were in vain.
As he said in an interview he did not drink alcohol because it was depressing or for the love of a woman: “I drink because I like brandy.”
From possessing an impeccable image when he was in the orchestra with Luis Ovalles, the performer of “La fosforera” became an unrecognizable, careless person, living without a horizon in which death found him.
Few meringues gave him a cyber farewell yesterday, as is now customary. Sergio Vargas, among these few, reviewed it on his Instagram: “Today a voice of our meringue, Charlie Amarante … goes out today in the arms of the Lord. My condolences to the relatives.”
Words. Yesterday, Luis Ovalles praised the vocal qualities of Charlie Amarante and stressed that he was his best singer and says that when he had a quality meringue in his hands he trusted him.