Lex Rijger

Alexander Lodewijk Antonius Rijger (2 December 1944 – 23 June 2021) was a Surinamese country singer and songwriter. He was known for his television specials for Christmas and Mother's Day. Before becoming a musician, he was a basketball player and referee, founding the local club SCVU.

He wrote one of the SuriPop 2008 finalist songs, "A Song of Life", which was performed by his three daughters. His youngest daughter Zoureena Rijger was Miss Suriname 2009.

Career Rijger attended the Paulus School in Suriname. in 1964, becoming its vice-president. He also worked as a referee. Although Rijger later shifted his focus to music, he maintained ties with SCVU. In 1969, Rijger took a job with the tax authorities as a bailiff, which he would maintain for 35 years.

Family Rijger married Nisa Chandoe in 1984. Rijger and Nisa had five children: two sons and three daughters. One son died in infancy. The remaining four children (son Garry and daughters Cheryll, Xaviera and Zoureena) joined Rijger in his performances when they were older: Garry would be the DJ, and the sisters would sing as a trio. As Rijger also played football in recreational clubs, he did occasional coaching of the youth football teams Puwa Nani and Bintang Baru '82, and would have his children attend the practices.

Garry died in 2004: while walking along a road, he was hit by a taxi whose driver had fallen asleep at the wheel. Rijger was greatly impacted by Garry's death: he took early retirement from his job as a bailiff, and stopped performing for three years. He returned slowly to performing, with Nisa as the DJ.

His eldest daughter Cheryll married the actor Ruben Welles in 2019. His daughters continued to perform one or two country songs in their concerts even while they shifted to more house music and pop. The newspaper Dagblad Suriname called him "a piece of Texas in Suriname".