Donner gained experience in singing and band leadership while working under New York bandleader Lester Lanin.
The resultant publicity in Town and Country Magazine and on the popular television show, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous then prompted Donner to return full-time to his first love, music.
[7] Since that time Donner has been a full-time band and orchestra leader, performing at concerts, celebrity parties and dances.
Bush; George Soros; Donald Trump; Rudy Giuliani; Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes; The Rockefeller family; Itzhak Pearlman; Kevin Klein; Lou Dobbs; Susan Lucci; Queen Noor of Jordan; the King and Queen of Sweden; the Cuomo family.
Donner and his musicians have performed with Liza Minnelli, Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole and Jimmy Buffett, among others.
Some of the venues around the United States that Alex and his band have performed at are: The Kennedy Center; many of the mansions in Newport, as well as the New York Botanical Garden.
[13] His paternal great-uncle, Howard Elting Jr., was a career diplomat and Foreign Service Officer who was one of the first United States officials to be made aware of the Nazi plan to exterminate Jewish individuals in Europe.