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Ángel Villoldo was a pivotal Argentine musician, composer, lyricist, and performer, widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of the tango genre.Born in Buenos Aires, Villoldo began his career as a street performer and circus artist. He became a central figure in the early development of tango music and culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A prolific composer and lyricist, he documented the slang (lunfardo) and life of the Buenos Aires underworld in his songs. His most famous work, 'El Choclo', is considered one of the foundational tangos. He also worked as a journalist and police reporter. Villoldo died in Buenos Aires at the age of 58.

• Villoldo started as a street singer (payador) and circus performer, showcasing his diverse talents before focusing on music.
• He is credited with being one of the first to write down and publish tango music, adapting the originally improvised, guitar-based genre for piano, which helped spread its popularity.
• His lyrics were revolutionary for their time, vividly portraying the marginal characters, slang (lunfardo), and social realities of the Buenos Aires slums (arrabales) and brothels, acting as a chronicler of the porteño underworld.
• He used several pseudonyms, including 'Gregorio Giménez', 'A. Gregorio', and 'Fray Pimiento', reflecting his multifaceted career and perhaps the slightly disreputable nature of early tango.
• Villoldo died relatively young at 58. While the exact cause isn't always definitively stated in every source, credible historical accounts (like those by musicologist Horacio Ferrer) indicate he suffered from progressive paralysis due to neurosyphilis, a common and incurable condition at the time.