e was born in La Plata, capital of the province of Buenos Aires. It was in the neighborhood of Los Hornos of that city where his parents owned a general store. He was the third of three siblings.

His earliest occupations were attending grade school and later helping his old folks in their daily work. Music came to him though his uncle Roberto, a virtuoso accordion player, who persuaded his parents to buy him a bandoneon, a rare instrument at that time.

His first efforts with the fueye (bellows) were by studying with two teachers of that city. One of them, Ponciano García, was enthusiastic about the kid’s capabilities and included him in his aggregation. It was back in 1929 and he performed at the matinees of the América cinema theater and at the cinema-bar Colón. Thereafter he joined a group to back the appearances of the female singer Mercedes Carné on Radio Belgrano.

But his dream, logically, was to lead his own orchestra and for that purpose he furthered his studies to improve as instrumentalist. He attended the Pedro Maffia’s conservatory. By that time he also met Anselmo Aieta. In his frequent travels to the Capital he came to know Humberto Canaro who persuaded him to join his orchestra. With him he debuted accompanying the singer Roberto Arrieta at a night venue located at the Pasaje Barolo (a thoroughfare across Avenida de Mayo),.

Later he had a tenure with the outfit led by José Dames. Immediately after that he was bandoneon player in the all-girl orchestra which time before had included Aníbal Troilo because it was not easy to find a woman devoted to so difficult and fundamental tango instrument.

At last, in 1935, his dream came true, he had his own orchestra and with it he debuted at the Confitería París of La Plata. Since then he never was jobless. On the contrary, his aggregation was the most sought-after tango orchestra in town. This happened between 1935 and 1940.

He appeared in the opening of Radio Provincia —originally Radio Telégrafo—; he was the member Nº 704 of SADAIC and, Pablo Osvaldo Valle, by that time director of Radio El Mundo hired him as exclusive artist. This was his best period: the most important clubs, locals, cafes and cabarets requested him and he had to cross the river to go to Montevideo for the same reason.

He appeared at the Jockey Club of La Plata and on Radio El Mundo. On the latter radio station he continued until 1946 when Radio Splendid made him an offer he accepted. Furthermore El Chantecler summoned him and he appeared there with his vocalist Roberto Flores (El Chato). After a three-year tenure there Radio El Mundo called him again. His vocalist at that time was Alberto Serna.

He succeeded in recording for the Pathé label and his recording debut was on June 19, 1951 with “Griseta”, with Alberto Santillán on vocals, and “Jueves”, an instrumental. He continued, among other gigs, at the night club Embassy, and tours of Peru, Chile and Colombia.

This busy schedule caused his absence in the recording studios for twenty years but on his comeback he recovered the time wasted. His recording activity was permanent but then it was a time when tango was declining and he had to afford the recording expenses but it was his way of expression, to stay in his beloved show business career, in music, in tango.

As a composer his oeuvre did not reach the acclaim that it would had surely achieved had it been recorded in the forties. It is worthwhile to highlight the musical contribution that Roberto Pansera and Ubaldo De Lío made to him.

As for lyricists, the ones that wrote for him were Julián Centeya, Enrique Dizeo, Leopoldo Díaz Vélez, Abel Aznar, Oscar Del Priore (“Como si fuera un cristal”) and also Homero Expósito with his last poem, “Las cosas son así”. The singers that recorded with him were: Alberto Santillán, Ricardo Blanco, Alberto Morel, Osvaldo Arana, Darío Bonel, Luis Correa, Elsa Rivas, Diego Solís, Carlos Almagro, Norma Ferrer, Alfredo Dalton, Gabriel Reynal, Rodolfo Benítez, Ángel Varela, Héctor Rubén, Carlos Cristal, Reynaldo Martín, Horacio Casares, Jorge Rigal, Fernando Derago, Omar Darien, Raúl Deval, Tito Damián, Eduardo Randal and others.

He accompanied Chola Luna (daughter of the singer and guitarist Goyo Luna) at a stage prior to her recordings. He also backed up Chola Bosch (Irene Beretta) whom he later married. She was a girl from Pompeya that began singing in the Cuarteto Ferri to later switch to the José Tinelli Orchestra, and later married the leader.

He cut over a hundred recordings. His was a second level orchestra and this means no offense to anyone. It was one more in that category not due to a difference in quality but sometimes only due to nuances. There are different circumstances which because of a number of reasons place, most times, people above or below other people although the latter are more or less suitable than the former. His name, like his brother Edelmiro D'Amario’s (Toto), has booked its place in the history of tango.