El Jeffrey — José Gabriel Severino, born 1 April 1974 in Santiago de los Caballeros — is a Dominican merengue singer, songwriter and producer, one of the genre’s most durable solo names since the late 1980s.

La Artillería

At about fourteen he joined La Artillería, the merengue orchestra, sharing the stage with Nelson Gil, Joan Minaya and Jaqueline «La Rubia» and singing songs — «Los celos», «Soy yo», «Otra noche» — that stayed in his repertoire for the rest of his career.

Going solo

He left the group to build an independent career; some discographies date its start to 1994’s «Por qué te siento aquí». His first widely distributed album, «Jeffrey para el mundo» (EMI, 1998), carried «Un mal necesario» and «Mujer infiel» among others.

«Mi tierra», and a Casandra

His commercial breakthrough came in the early 2000s with «Mi tierra» — «Pobre diablo», «La noche», «Cuéntale a él», «Palabritas» among its tracks — whose 2004 promotion won him the 2005 Premios Casandra for best orchestra; «Palabritas» went on to reach No. 33 on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart in 2006. The follow-up, «Mi vida» (2005), paired him with Johnny Ventura on «La mujer que nos gusta» and Papi Sánchez on «Tu secreto», and he also cut a ballad version of «Por amor» with its composer, Rafael Solano, and the singer Niní Cáffaro.

Staying current

«Voy a ser grande» (2007), written by Tony López and arranged by Alfredo Sisa «Makumba», and «Yo soy merengue» (2011), released under Sánchez Family Entertainment, kept him on the radio through the following decade, during which he pushed merengue toward electronic and urban production while keeping the güira and tambora at its core; in 2021 he released a merengue version of Ozuna’s «Qué pena» as a preview of the project «Mi regreso».

Screen and stage

He acted in the 2007 comedy «Sanky Panky» as Miguelito and appeared musically in the 2017 documentary «Hay un país en el mundo», alongside Fernando Villalona, Krisspy and Joseíto Mateo. In July 2024 he marked twenty-five years as an independent artist with the show «Mi tierra» at Hard Rock Live Santo Domingo, joined by Jossie Esteban y La Patrulla 15, Krisspy and Fernando Villalona — a concert later nominated for Concierto del Año at the 2025 Premios Soberano.

Legacy

After Rubby Pérez’s death in April 2025, El Jeffrey released the tribute «Rubby vive en mí», having sung Pérez’s songs at his funeral rites; in January 2026 he issued a live retrospective, «Lo mejor de mí», closing in on four decades since a fourteen-year-old from Santiago first stepped on stage with La Artillería.