On a cold frigid day journeying into New Jersey, I find myself on a train to interview this woman who otherwise was simply a face and a singing background voice I had seen on stage behind Marc Anthony and J.Lo.  I find myself shivering wondering if I can possibly re-schedule for a warmer day.  But, I find when I arrive, Alex greets me with a warm and gracious hello along with a gift she quietly informs me she brought over just for me. As I stare down clutching at my new writing pad, I realize, that is the first time any of my interviews have shown up with a gift. It turns out, giving freely is simply within her nature and is what makes Alex Taveras quite unique in the industry.  Today she sings background vocals, but tomorrow she will be a strong solo voice.

Upon first sight, she is the picture perfect vision of outwardly perfection. Calm, serene, stylish and attentive with classic beauty.  Dependent upon the lighting, sometimes reminiscent of a Latin Sheryl Crow. There simply is no ego dripping from her considering the long impressive list of people she has worked with over the years.

The location of our interview is a place where Exotic Parrots live as well. I stand, waiting to begin, watching Alex as she coos at the birds. She is thoroughly delighted in the simplicity of their nature as well as appreciative of their talents and tones.

Alex’s story begins as a fabulous journey of joy and disappointment but ultimately, a song of success with rhythmic sounds of perseverance and justice. Her story will inspire and infuse.  Her story is long but ironically enough, it has only just begun.

She is the oldest of three, and born of Dominican parents on Valentine’s Day, February 14th.  Raised by her mother in the Bronx of New York City along with her 2 siblings, Alex has been singing for as long as she can remember.  She can’t even pinpoint the exact moment she began to utter notes from her soul.  Following the desire to sing for a lifetime didn’t’ come easy, “I used to dream to myself because I was afraid of expressing myself.  I came from a family where I was afraid of how they would put me down because you didn’t say you wanted to be a singer back in the day.  My Mom was like, ‘Yeah? You gonna go to the grocery store and you gonna sing for them?’ I always thought in the back of my mind, I wanted to be a Superstar Singer, but I didn’t believe it could happen.”

Alex credits the encouragement of a Junior High School chorus teacher as the inspiration for her earliest meaningful audition.  Her audition and acceptance to the Music and Art High School in Manhattan, NYC.  “She told me, ‘If you don’t audition for that school, I will fail you in class!’  So I auditioned and it was a lousy audition if I must say so myself because I was really shy, but I got in! When I got there I wanted to be a superstar, and I had the lead in all the plays and all the operas that I was in. Every concert.”

From that point on, Alex graduated HS and attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, majoring in classical music and vocal performance.  While in school, Alex was lucky enough to play for the acclaimed Merengue ‘New York Band’ which soon followed with a three year long gig singing with the legendary, Tito Nieves. 

At the top of her game, she made life-altering decision.  She was going to have a baby and become a Mother.  “After I had my daughter, I decided I didn’t want to do the music thing anymore. I just wanted to be a Mom.”

Did everyone tell you that if you had a baby it would throw everything off?

“For sure. I mean, she is the best thing that has ever happened to me. But then I was thinking, ‘Oh yeah. That’s it. My life is over as far as music is concerned. I just gotta be a Mom.’  You know you get the guilt trip from other parents, ‘Well now your going to have to be a Mom. You can’t be thinking about such and such.’ To heck with those. Who says you can’t do what you want to do as well as be a mother? My daughter is very proud of what I do, and I am a good Mother.”

Quite the gamble to take and a huge decision but hindsight is 20/20 and now she understands it. “I actually had a lot of let downs at the time.  I kept having doors slammed in my face, because all along I was with those bands, and all I wanted to do was have my own record deal as a solo artist. I was trying over and over again with different companies and nothing was happening. I became so disillusioned and so fed up with the industry that I thought, ‘You know what?  I am not going to do this anymore.’“

Although life as a Mother suited her just fine, Alex secretly knew something was missing while on hiatus.  She worked in the Account Receivables department at the NBA.  She received a call from her friend, Juanito who worked with Salsa Artist Marc Anthony, to work on sporadic independent recordings every so often.  While doing so, she was asked to join Marc in 2000 singing vocals on his album, Libre and with that, she became an official background vocalist on his tour. It was an opportunity she couldn’t miss. She managed to work both for Marc and the NBA simultaneously and didn’t officially leave the NBA until the summer of 2002.

Were you scared after being out of the loop for a while?

“I was TERRIFIED.  When you have that 9-5, you have that stability. You have that check coming in consistently. I tried to be real smart  and save up as much money as I could from the tour.  It would have been nice to go back to the NBA whenever I wanted to but that was not fair to them.  But if I went back, I would have to ttell them that I am not going to do it again and I can’t do that.”

The reason Alex knows that is a promise she can’t offer to her old job stems from the absolute fact, she was signed by Universal Music three years ago and now has begun to record her full solo CD. “The record deal actually happened while I was at the NBA.  After Juanito woke my appetite for singing again, I thought ‘Well maybe I’ll give it another try. So without making a big hoopla about it, I took some photos, put a demo together and gave it to my manager and he said he would shop it. I didn’t tell anyone and to my surprise, I got an immediate response from Universal.  They flew me down and they signed me then.  They went through changes in that time frame so while that happened, I went on tour and it was further put on hold.  But it’s finally come to the time when I am going to start recording this spring.”

Not only has she been busy with Marc and her own solo efforts, she managed to find time to sing background vocals for J. Lo.  “ Somebody from Sony saw me working with Marc and when they were putting the band together for Jennifer they gave me a call and said there was an opening for a background vocalist in her band.  I have more respect for Jennifer than ever because she’s so hard working and dedicated.  I really enjoy her.”

As our interview draws to a close and the dinner bells ring, I am aware that Alex is on a divine journey that is genuinely deserving. It’s an awe inspiring story and it was this journalist’s pleasure to tell it.  Alex sums up her mindset and soulful sentiments and her strength to succeed and grab at her dreams. As a woman, as a survivor, as a strong sincere force of that will soon have to be reckoned with in this industry, “You learn things in life. They are all lessons and things that come our way that make you stronger. The thing is not to give up.  Even though I gave up all those years, I still don’t regret it.  I made those choices, I can never change them, so I look at the positive and try to see what did I learn and what should I not do again? I just feel like I’m that much more the wiser.“