The hat and sunglasses of Dominican singer Rubby Perez, who died in the roof collapse at the Jet Set nightclub during his merengue concert, sit on his casket during his wake at the Domingo Brito National Theater in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. Credit: AP/Matias Delacroix

Rubby Pérez, the singer who was performing on Tuesday when the ceiling of the Jet Set nightclub collapsed in Santo Domingo, claiming at least 218 lives including his own, spent his long career devoted to merengue, the signature style of the Dominican Republic.

Pérez was one of at least 124 people killed in the Tuesday tragedy. Rubby Pérez, the merengue singer who rose to fame as the lead vocalist of the Wilfrido Vargas Orchestra, has died following a tragic accident at the Jet Set nightclub in the Dominican Republic city of Santa Domingo.