Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, Juan Luis Guerra studied music in his native Santo Domingo and Boston's Berklee College of Music. Guerra and the group 440 released their first album, Soplando, a mix of traditional merengue rhythms with jazz vocalizations, in 1984.

Following years of success, including many millions of albums sold worldwide, Guerra retired from music in 1995 to focus on his media investments, including the radio station VivaFM and TV network Mango TV. He ended his break with 1998's Latin Grammy winning LP Ni es lo mismo ni es igual, and has continued to record and release new music.

In 2007, Guerra was honored with six Latin Grammy nominations and was selected as Person of the Year by the Latin Recording Academy.