Like many Mexican American kids growing up in L.A. in the '90s, singer Yolanda Perez idolized the local narco-corrido king Chalino Sanchez. She was about to turn 9 in 1992 when Sanchez was kidnapped and executed after a concert in Sinaloa, like a character out of one of his folk ballads about drug dealers and their exploits.
Today, Perez refuses to record narco-corridos, a style regarded as a path to stardom in Mexican country music. She's had to stand up to her label, to promoters and even to her own father, who's also her manager, when they pressure her to "give the people what they want."
But for her, the drug problem hits too close to home.
"I have a brother who's been struggling with drugs," says Perez, who has a 4-year-old daughter. "I used to think it was cool because it was the cool people that liked to listen to it. Now that I'm older and I understand, it kind of makes me angry that these songs can be made to glorify the people that are making my brother struggle the way he has struggled."
This month, the singer gained a new platform that raises her profile -- and potential influence -- in the local music industry. She was named host of "Mex 2 the Max," a popular music show produced for LATV, the L.A.-based network aimed at young, bilingual Latinos. The singer succeeds Patricia Lopez, the program's original host, who's now the morning sidekick for Rick Dees on Movin' 93.9. It's the first broadcast gig for Perez, who has recorded seven albums in as many years, including her latest, "Todo de Mi" (All of Me), which drops Tuesday.
LATV produces music and entertainment programs carried on 33 affiliates nationwide, including stations in New York, Chicago and Dallas owned by the Tribune Co. (which publishes The Times). In Los Angeles, shows are seen on KJLA, drawing an estimated 100,000 viewers per week -- and providing a potential springboard for a poised and gorgeous homegirl like Perez, equally comfortable in English and Spanish.
"In many ways, she represents the cool and youthful part of regional Mexican music here in the U.S.," says Daniel Crowe, LATV's president and co-founder. "She's a very hip girl, and she's the real deal in the Mexican regional world, but she can cross over if she wanted to."
