Grupo Extra is a Dominican bachata band founded by Robert Encarnación and Tony Santana (stage name of Edward Regalado), built a run of dancefloor hits in the 2010s, and has since become one of the genre’s most consistent touring acts in Europe.

Origins

Encarnación, who grew up in Santo Domingo’s Capotillo neighborhood by his own account, co-founded the group with Santana with the goal of pushing romantic bachata toward a more contemporary, pop-inflected sound without abandoning the genre’s guitar core.

Breakthrough hits

The band built its following through a run of radio and video hits — «Te Vas», «Quisiera Llorar» (2011), «No Sé Cómo Me Enamoré», «Te Amo Tanto», «Sin Ti», «Si Fueras Mía» and «Corazón Culpable» (2014) among them — establishing a sound built on close vocal harmony and a more urban-leaning bachata arrangement.

International reach

In 2015 the group recorded an official bachata remix of Pitbull’s «When I’m with You», produced by Moisés Sánchez, and has since built a particularly strong following in Europe. Now led by Fidel Pérez, the band released the single «Dime lo que te pasó» in February 2026, written by Santana and Oswaldy «Oxu» Díaz — the same month it earned its third career nomination for Premios Soberano, in the category for Dominican artists based abroad.

Legacy

More than two decades after its founding, Grupo Extra remains a working example of bachata’s reach beyond the island, still recording new material and still drawing crowds from Santo Domingo to the European circuit that has become its second home.