Born in San José de las Matas, Alejandro Wigberto Bueno Lópezknown by his stage name Alex Buenohe played the guitar at the age of six and some time later joined Fernando Villalona’s orchestra.
Those two moments gave shape and direction to his life. And to his musical career.
In 1982, the merengue player recorded the song “Piel Canela” with Villalona. During his first years in the industry he received the nickname “The Mayimbito“, a name that after a while he asked not to be used.
After leaving the Mayimbe group, he formed the Liberation Orchestra together with the musician Andrés de Jesús. Between 1983 and 1987, Bueno placed more than 50 songs on radio stations.
In 1988, while staying in New York, he recorded “Lucía”, an adaptation to merengue rhythm of a poem written by then-president Joaquín Balaguer.
The piece was considered by many of that time “a gem and literary work.” The then president publicly approved the version and thanked the dissemination of his work.
Balaguer told the press that when a work was published it no longer belonged to the author and was the property of the people.
The piece had the musical direction of Andrés de Jesús.
Balaguer even said that his composition was “a piece of youth that was written purely circumstantially.”
“What I do is deeply thank the people who have attributed some literary value to that piece, which is a piece of youth, which was written purely circumstantially. For this I feel deeply grateful and you can do with it whatever you want,” said the then Dominican president in a meeting with the press in the town of Rancho Arriba in February 1988.
In 1990, the performer returned to his home country and signed a contract with the company Karen Recordsdirected by Welcome Rodriguez.
The artist’s career registered various conflicts in the industry. That same year, the Penn Record company claimed a valid contract after the artist signed with the new label.
In May 1991, the singer’s lawyer filed a complaint at the Police Palace against the promoter. Jose Delio Jimenezpointing out threats in the midst of a claim for 900 dollars for a tour carried out in Venezuela.
Likewise, the artist made public his diagnosis of drug and alcohol addiction, which began in 1982.
In interviews, he clarified that his teacher Fernando Villalona did not introduce him to consumption and that, on the contrary, he advised him to avoid it.
Under the seal of Karen Records In 1990 he published the album “Jardín Prohibido”, which featured the participation of artists such as Juan Luis Guerra and Maridalia Hernández in the choirs. The song of the same name was a salsa, which was a sensation and is still frequently played on Dominican radio stations today.
In 1993, the album “Ternuras” was released under the J&N Records label (Juan & Nelson), with sound titles in boleros such as “Un impossible love”, “Por ella”, “Hipócrita”, “Amor de poor” and “Quiéreme”.
The press, over the years, documented his admissions to medical treatment centers in the mid-1990s. In subsequent interventions, Bueno described alcohol as a major problem due to its ease of acquiring it.
In 2008 he got together with the merengue player Eddy Herrera and the Puerto Rican Elvis Crespowhile performing at the Jet Set nightclub.
Starting in the 2010s, a new stage in his life began, after reporting the beginning of his period of sobriety.
Regarding his vision on politics, in 2011, Bueno even expressed that “he was not looking for money from her,” and made it clear that he was not going to sing for any politician.
He attributed his recovery to faith and prayer. He settled in New York in 2013. On a physical level, he underwent bariatric surgery with which he lost 50 pounds in weight and controlled his diabetes diagnosis.
Art institutions recognized his career. In 2019, the Association of Art Chroniclers (Acroarte) and the Dominican National Brewery gave him a Sovereign of Merit. That distinction was his first statuette in the Dominican award.
“I want to dedicate it to my great family who are my audience, who have known how to forgive me and still keep me alive,” he said at the gala.
In the recent stage of his career, he recorded songs in various genres. He collaborated with Romeo Santos on the bachata “Our Love”, a work that received a nomination at the Premio Lo Nuestro awards in 2021.
Furthermore, that same year he recorded the song “Evil of love” with his teacher Villalona.
Good confirmed that the platform Netflix He had started interviews in the casting phase for the production of a series about his life. However, this was not carried out.
In May 2024, he presented the concert “Alex Bueno Symphonic” at the National Theater, celebrating 40 years of career. There he performed his repertoire accompanied by the Santo Domingo Philharmonic Orchestra and 70 musicians directed by maestro Amaury Sánchez.
The clinical history that preceded his death began to be documented in September 2025.
That month, the singer was admitted to a medical center for hypoglycemia. Specialists detected and removed a brain tumor and then identified cancer cells in other areas of his body.
Despite his medical condition, in April of last year he released an album titled “The most complete”composed of 15 songs with arrangements by figures such as Ramón Orlando and Manuel Tejada.
Weeks after the launch, his clinical condition presented complications that required his admission to intensive care, a state in which he remained until the moment of his death.
