 pedro flores born (march 9, 1894 &ndash; july 14, 1979) was one puerto rico's best known composers of ballads and boleros. ==early years== flores (birth name: pedro juan flores cÃ³rdova) was one of twelve children born into a poor family in the town of naguabo, puerto rico. flores' father died when he was only nine years old and therefore, he was forced to work at a young age. when he was sixteen years old, he took a special course in the university of puerto rico (universidad de puerto rico) and received his teachers certificate. flores taught for five years and worked for one year at a sugar mill in the island of vieques. in 1918, he served in a clerical position in the u.s. army. he was honorably discharged from the army when he was twenty-four years old.popular culturepeer music biography ==trÃ­o borinquen== in 1926, flores went to new york without any formal musical education and joined another puerto rican composer, rafael hernÃ¡ndez in his trÃ­o borinquen. even though flores and hernÃ¡ndez became very good friends, they also became competitors as composers. when flores wrote "sin bandera", hernÃ¡ndez rushed and wrote preciosa. in 1930, flores formed his own trio which he named "trÃ­o galÃ³n", and whose music and songs had a faster beat than the "trÃ­o borinquen". flores had problems with the music publishing company and he abandoned the trio. he moved to mexico and then lived in cuba for a short period of time. flores eventually returned to new york where he reorganized his old trio. some of the singers of this new trio were myrta silva, daniel santos and pedro ortiz dÃ¡vila "davilita". ==musical compositions==  some of the songs written by flores were: amor perdido (lost love), bajo un palmar (under a palm tree), borracho no vale (which may tr
1894_births 1979_deaths People_from_Naguabo,_Puerto_Rico Puerto_Rican_Army_personnel Puerto_Rican_composers Puerto_Rican_military_personnel Puerto_Rican_musicians