| Las Chicas del Can | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
| Genres | Merengue |
| Years active | 1982–1999 |
| Members | |
| Míriam Cruz (1982-1992) Eunice Betances (1982-1992) Theresa Domínguez (1982-1992) |
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| Past members | |
| Belkis Concepción (1982-1985) Verónica Medina (1982-1986) Luchy Betances (1982-1992) Gladys Quero (1985-1992) Adalgisa Baez (1993-1998) Michell Flores (1993-1998) Florángel Del Villar (1993-1998) Jessica Castro (1992-1993) Amarilis Garcia (1986-1987) |
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Las Chicas Del Can is an all-female merengue group from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Originally created by Wilfrido Vargas, several teams of female vocalists and musicians have alternately performed under the name Las Chicas del Can throughout the group's history.
Originally founded in 1982, Las Chicas del Can performed hit after hit throughout the eighties, and a great number of their singles and albums achieved gold and/or platinum status. Hits such as El Negro No Puede, La Media María, Sukaína, Juana la Cubana, Culeca, Ta' Pillao, Fuego, Fiebre, and Las Pequeñas Cosas are now considered "classics" of merengue music.
Lead singer Belkis Concepción left the group early in its history to go solo in 1985. Singers Míriam Cruz (the uncrowned queen of the Merengue) and Eunice Betances then teamed up and got vocal support from, among others, Luchy Betances (younger sister of Eunice) and Verónica Medina. Medina herself then went solo in 1987.
In 1993, the group reinvented itself under the name Míriam Cruz y Las Chicas. The first year under that name, they produced a successful album entitled Nueva Vida featuring a hitsong written by superstar Juan Luis Guerra, Te Propongo. Later that year, La Loba was also well received by merengue fans and quickly became another hit. A European tour soon followed. In 1994 Miriam Cruz y Las Chicas scored another hit with the song Con Agua de Sal, and 1995 brought another successful European tour.
Meanwhile, the original name was kept alive by a music industry manager who discovered a group of new and talented young ladies who would carry the torch for Las Chicas del Can and leave their own indelible mark on merengue music. In 1993, Michell Flores, Adalgisa Baez and Florángel del Villar teamed up to keep the legacy alive. This stage was incredible, the new girls were hailed as the "Monumental", travelling around the world, taking up issues of the former incarnation such as "Juana la Cubana" and introducing as his protagonist a young Costa Rican trumpeter Ana Retana. Item icon that band whatsoever at any stage, it is noteworthy that Michell Flores is a native of Guatemala, was a young singer with promise of becoming a figure at the international level. They made a furor with the hit tunes Voy Pa' allá, Hacer el Amor Con Otro, Celoso, Explosivo and Sin Compromiso. After the albums Botando Chispas (1994) and Derramando Sueños (1996) were made, Michell Flores went solo, and the second formation of Las Chicas del Can broke up in 1998.
Las Chicas del Can was eventually reformed a third time in 1999, but it was never able to achieve the success of earlier formations and fell apart that same year. To date, the first formation of Las Chicas Del Can (with front ladies Míriam Cruz, Eunice Betances and Theresa Domínguez) has proven the most successful of all.
Discography