Xtreme

New York Latin music producers George Zamora and Sergio George assembled the Dominican vocal duo Xtreme, a pop/R&B/bachata outfit built around lead singer Danny Mejia and backing vocalist Steven Tejada. The project originated in 2003 yet reached its final configuration only in February 2004 once the producers discovered the gifted 17-year-old Mejia. After extended auditions the lineup was locked in, at that stage including a third member who has since left the group. That former colleague appears on the cover of the 2005 release but was removed from the 2006 Univision reissue. In stylistic terms Xtreme seeks to fuse the lived experience and musical preferences common to many Dominican nationals settled in the U.S. Their recordings merge the “tipico” sounds of the homeland with the R&B that New York Dominicans absorb daily in neighborhood streets. The resulting material resonated strongly with the duo’s expanding core audience, propelled by tracks such as the single “Te Extrano.”