La Chiquito Team Band is a quintet of salseros (salsa singers) led by founders Chiquito Timbal (Rafael Berroa) and Manuel Piano (Emmanuel Frias). The group's other members include Alberto María, Kelvin Saviñon, and Lugo Santana, who act as the backing chorus and take occasional solos, all in front of a cooking salsa orchestra. They call their innovative take on the tropical genre "La Industria Salsera." Despite their young age when they formed the band, Timbal and Piano had been singing and working professionally since childhood. Separately, they had been associated with such local and international artists as Julián Oro Duro, Bonny Cepeda, José Peña Suazo, Jossie Esteban, Giro, Yiyo Sarante, El Clasicom, and more. They encountered one another frequently on the circuit, became friends, and decided to come together and form the musical concept not only as singers but as producers. They formed La Chiquito Team Band in June of 2012, and honed their concept little by little. Early singles such as "Volveré," "Círar el Otro Parte," "Querida," and "Lupita" were circulated and played on the radio, enabling the band to play live and develop its unique dancing and vocal styles. Their 2014 debut long-player, La Industria Salsera, offered 13 tracks that included most of the above singles plus additional hits "Homenaje a Joe Arroyo" and "La Macarena." The album charted in the Dominican Republic and afforded the group headliner status as it toured the Caribbean and Florida. La Chiquito Team Band followed that success a year later with the single "Llamada de Mi Ex." After touring for the better part of two years, the quintet issued the pre-release single "Me Marcho" in June of 2017; it shot up the streaming and digital charts. ~ Thom Jurek