Before “genre-fluid” was a playlist category, before every Latin superstar was dropping a salsa track next to a perreo banger, there were three guys and a producer who looked at a salsa orchestra and thought: what if we gave this a hip-hop swagger, a reggae bounce and an R&B heart? That’s DLG, short for Dark Latin Groove. In 2026, the group that turned tropical music upside down is celebrating 30 years since it first hit the stage.
So where are they now? Grab your dancing shoes, because this one is a ride. 💃🏽
1996: The Groove Is Born
The story starts in New York’s Latin club scene, where Grammy-winning producer Sergio George went looking for voices. He found two of them on the salsa circuit: Huey Dunbar, a smooth soul crooner of Puerto Rican and Jamaican roots, and James “Da Barba” de Jesús, a ragga-style rapper who had sung backup for salsa great Tito Nieves. Add Wilfredo “Fragancia” Crispín and you had the original trio.
DLG made its first appearance in April 1996, with Sergio George himself on keyboards. Their self-titled debut, Dark Latin Groove, arrived that year carrying “No Morirá,” “Todo Mi Corazón” and “Me Va a Extrañar.” It was salsa, sure, but salsa with dancehall toasting, hip-hop attitude and R&B vocal runs in the same song. Nobody was doing it like that.
1997: “La Quiero a Morir” Takes Over the World
Then came Swing On, released August 5, 1997, and the moment that made DLG legends. Its lead single, “La Quiero a Morir,” was a tropical reworking of French singer-songwriter Francis Cabrel’s 1979 ballad “Je l’aime à mourir.” DLG took a tender French love song, gave it a salsa engine and Huey’s soaring voice, and turned it into one of the defining Latin tracks of the decade. It ruled radio across Latin America for weeks.
The love hasn’t faded. The official music video has passed 322 million views on DLG’s official YouTube channel.
The same album gave us “Juliana,” DLG’s take on the Dominican classic made famous by Ramón Orlando and Cuco Valoy, plus “Magdalena, Mi Amor.” Sergio George recently recalled that Ramón Orlando personally thanked him for introducing “Juliana” to a whole new generation through DLG. “It was an honor to record your mastery,” George said he told him.
A third album, Gotcha! (1999), brought “Volveré,” and then the original chapter closed. Huey went solo after 2000, and the trio as fans first knew it was done.
And yes, “La Quiero a Morir” is still out here making hearts melt. This month, a clip of Shakira singing the song in Spanish and French at her Montreal show went viral, racking up close to 200,000 views on X in a matter of days. Same song, different era, still undefeated.
Why DLG Was Ahead of Its Time
Think about the music landscape in 1996. Genres lived in their own boxes and radio formats kept them there. DLG ignored all of it. They took the brass, piano montunos and clave of classic salsa and layered in:
- Hip-hop attitude and street style
- Reggae and dancehall toasting from Da Barba
- R&B melodies and runs from Huey
- Cover choices nobody saw coming, from a French chanson to a Dominican classic
They pulled tropical music onto urban dance floors and proved a young, bilingual, hip-hop-raised generation could fall in love with salsa on its own terms. Sound familiar?
From DLG to Bad Bunny: The Lineage
Fast forward to January 5, 2025, when Bad Bunny dropped DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS and the whole planet started dancing salsa again. The album is a love letter to Puerto Rican music, blending reggaeton with salsa, plena, bomba and jíbaro, plus house and dembow:
- “BAILE INoLVIDABLE” is a six-minute salsa song featuring a live orchestra of students from San Juan’s Escuela Libre de Música.
- “NUEVAYoL” opens with El Gran Combo’s 1975 salsa classic “Un Verano en Nueva York” before exploding into dembow.
- “EL CLúB” fuses house music with plena, and “CAFé CON RON” brings in Los Pleneros de la Cresta.
This isn’t about who did it “first” or “better.” Bad Bunny is drawing on generations of Puerto Rican music, and DLG was its own bold chapter in that same story. Both share one core idea: tradition and modern sounds can live in the same song, and the dance floor is where they meet. DLG flipped salsa for the hip-hop generation of the ’90s; Bad Bunny is bringing salsa and plena to a global streaming generation. Different decades, same fearless energy. Respect to both. 🙌🏽
Where Are They Now?
Huey Dunbar: The Voice Went Solo, and He’s Still Singing
Huey is a working solo salsa artist playing big stages around the world. In 2026 alone he performed at the Miami Beach Bandshell in April, at Sergio George’s ¡ATACA SERGIO! festival at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, in May, and at the La Carpa festival in Fuerteventura, Spain, in July.
And if you’re hoping for a reunion? Huey has been crystal clear. “I think there’s no way each of us could give all that energy we lived back then again. It’s impossible. It’s better to leave that energy encapsulated in that era,” he said in a 2025 radio interview (translated from Spanish). He credits Sergio George for the advice that DLG was never meant to last forever and called the group “a university for me.”
Fragancia: Keeping the DLG Name Alive
Wilfredo “Fragancia” Crispín never stopped carrying the flag. He leads DLG New Generation with Cuban vocalists Ángel Manuel and Dorian Planas. The new lineup released the album Historias Sin Contar in 2018, followed by the single “Aquí Quién Manda Soy Yo!” with former Grupo Niche singer Willy García in 2019 and “Por Qué Te Tengo Que Olvidar” in 2020. His mission, in his own words: keep making good music and “put the name of DLG higher.”
James “Da Barba” de Jesús: The Comeback Captain
Da Barba led DLG’s 2007 rebirth, teaming with new vocalist Yahaira “Miss YaYa” Vargas on the album Renacer. That lineup earned a 2009 Grammy nomination for Best Tropical Album and a Premio Lo Nuestro nomination for Best Tropical Group. He is now listed as a former member of the group and keeps a low public profile.
Sergio George: The Architect Is Still Building
The man who dreamed up DLG remains one of the most important producers in Latin music. In 2026 he headlined his own ¡ATACA SERGIO! festival with Huey Dunbar, Andy Montañez, Luis Enrique, Guaynaa and more, and he’s still telling the stories behind DLG’s biggest hits.
So… Should DLG Reunite?
Thirty years later, the songs are still everywhere: at weddings, at family parties, in viral clips and on playlists of fans who weren’t even born in 1996. Huey says the magic belongs to its moment. Fragancia is keeping the name alive with a new generation. And a whole new wave of artists is proving DLG’s big idea was right all along.
So we have to ask: should the original DLG reunite for one last “La Quiero a Morir,” or is some magic better left in the ’90s? Tell us in the comments and on our socials. We’re saying it OutLoud! 👇🏽
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