In 1959, Juan de Dios decided to take the name 'Johnny Ventura'. He started his career as a singer in several bands that presented themselves at the dances in La Feria. He worked with the orchestra of Rondón Votau and in 1961 with the band of the Dominican percussionist Donald Wild. In 1962 he sang with Combo Caribe of
Luis Pérez, with whom he recorded
Cuidado Con el Cuabero, of which he was the author, and
La Agarradera, of Luis Pérez. It was with this band that he recorded his first LP consisting of 12 songs. In 1963, Johnny Ventura was recruited by the musical director
Papa Molina to join La Super Orquesta San José, of which he was the director at that time. He joined as singer and as player of the
güira. For two years Ventura was part of La Super Orquesta with stars such as Vinicio Franco and Grecia Aquino. Although no records remain of this group, this period was a landmark in his career. In 1964, the
Cuban
impresario Angel Guinea insisted that Johnny Ventura create his own orchestra, the "Combo Show" which is known as an important part of the history of popular Dominican music. In 1965, with his orchestra, Ventura recorded for the
Fonogram label the albums
La Coquetona,
La Resbalosa and
El Turun Tun Tun. In 1967 he travelled to the United States, where he immediately became a star. He is credited with the song "La muerte de Martin", with the voice of Luisito Martí, the Combo Show made their first golden record with
Ah..! Yo No Se... No (1971). In 1999, Ventura was inducted into the
International Latin Music Hall of Fame and won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the same organization in 2003. In 2006, Ventura was presented with the
Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by the
Latin Recording Academy in recognition of his career. He has been compared to American singer
Elvis Presley. == Personal life and legacy ==