Manuel Jiménez —full name Manuel de Jesús Jiménez Ortega, born in the Sabana Grande section of Cotuí, Sánchez Ramírez, on 15 October 1952— is a Dominican singer-songwriter and, since 2020, a politician, best known for the ballad «Derroche».

«LUCUAM» and two educations

He showed an early inclination for music, performing at school before moving to Santo Domingo. There he studied literature at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo and, at the same time, guitar and flute at the Academia Dominicana, joining and later directing the experimental music group «LUCUAM», where he developed as a composer of both romantic and socially conscious songs. He went on to earn a law degree at the Universidad Abierta Para Adultos.

«Derroche»

«Derroche», released in 1993, became his best-known song and, by his own account, the one that has given him the greatest satisfaction as a composer. It has been recorded by more than twenty international artists, was the theme song of the Argentine film «Caballos Desbocados», and was the first Dominican song translated into Cantonese, besides being rendered in Portuguese, French, Danish and English. Asked once by Mariasela Álvarez which song by another songwriter he wished he had written, Juan Luis Guerra 4.40 answered: «Derroche».

A song for every voice

His catalogue has traveled widely through other performers’ voices: «Quién no Sabe de Amor» through Maridalia Hernández, «Amor Casual» through Wilfrido Vargas, «Con Agua y Sal» through both Miriam Cruz and, decades later, Eddy Herrera, «Dile Más» through Sergio Vargas, and «En Cuarentena» through Los Hermanos Rosario. Abroad, the Colombian rapper Lisa M turned his «Súbeme el Radio» into the best-selling Latin rap single of 1993, winning an ASCAP Award in the United States. He represented the Dominican Republic four times at the OTI Song Festival, and two of his songs, «Guerembé» and «Santo Domingo Carnaval», were chosen as official Santo Domingo Carnival themes.

Legacy

Jiménez entered politics at seventeen through the Movimiento Popular Dominicano, later serving on the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana’s central committee until his 2015 resignation and joining the Partido Revolucionario Moderno in 2019. He was a deputy in the National Congress and, in 2020, was elected mayor of Santo Domingo Este, a post he held until 2024, acknowledging along the way that his political career had cost him part of his musical following without ever making him abandon it.