Giving voice to the music

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.”

The network wants to restore live performances and artist interviews to the show, which had recently resorted to videos. Perez says she’s too new to know how much influence she’ll have on the program, which airs Mondays through Thursdays at 9 p.m. And she doubts it would be professional to try to impose her personal ban against narco tunes. But the network may not mind her assuming the mantle of role model on the drug issue, says vice president of programming Luca Bentivoglio. That might make good TV. “We want to give her free rein,” says the exec, who hired her.

Perez first gained popularity in 2003 with the song “Estoy Enamorada” (I’m in Love), playing the sassy daughter in a duet with cranky radio character Don Cheto. Talking back in Spanglish, Perez vows to stand by her boyfriend.

In her career, Perez has been more docile. She allowed label execs to steer her into material considered commercial, such as a forgettable banda/reggaeton fusion and last year’s “Te Sigo Amando” (I Go On Loving You), an unconvincing collection of covers except for the wistful title song, which she wrote and dedicated to her brother.

She took control for the new album, which features the modern (albeit busy) banda sound of producers Adolfo and Omar Valenzuela. “I kind of rebelled,” she says. “I wanted to choose the songs and let my heart guide me through this.”

Again, Perez penned the title song of romantic betrayal and disillusion, in which she regrets giving her all in love and asks her partner to “return my smiles, my caresses, my self.” Though she declines to discuss her relationship with her daughter’s father, or even name the former college athlete and aspiring actor, the song betrays her sentiments during a rough patch for the couple. It also reveals her maturing talent as a sophisticated songwriter, which may prove to be her real talent.

The LATV opportunity appeared earlier this year while Perez was doing a promotion for McDonald’s. She had been hired to pitch the McSkillet Burrito, handing out an autograph with the orders at a takeout window. An LATV producer doing a separate promotion asked the singer to help interview customers. Her natural on-air charm led to an audition. She turned on that winning personality Thursday while filming a segment to promote her album on the Spanish-language program “Escandalo TV.” The location: a Western clothing store in Van Nuys. The concept: Correspondent Ninette Rios helps Perez pick an outfit that fits her style, something between “sexy y classy” that mixes Mexican and modern.

When she emerges from a dressing room with a Western shirt tied to expose her slim, bare waist, the camera zooms in on her belly ring. But her three tattoos -- a music clef on the back of her neck, a Chinese symbol behind one ear and something else covered by her tight jeans -- are well hidden.

They’re hidden for a reason, she explains. “I’m aware I’m not going to stay young forever. I’m a mother and I plan on being a grandmother.”

Perez is the first child born here to immigrants from the state of Zacatecas. She grew up in Montclair, where her mother worked in a carpet factory. At home with her parents, she spoke Spanish and listened to Banda El Recodo and Tucanes de Tijuana. With friends at school, she spoke English and listened to Alicia Keys, Lauryn Hill and Tupac Shakur.

When her little sister was born in 1997, she was thrilled when her parents chose the name Selena, after the slain Tex-Mex star who blazed a trail for bilingual Mexican American female singers.

Fresh out of high school in 2001, Perez signed a recording contract with the Woodland Hills-based Fonovisa label, a force in Mexican regional music. After her initial hit with Don Cheto, she has worked hard to sustain her success.

“I think that’s the best gift that we can give our parents: to be able to stand out in a country that’s not really our country,” she says. “That’s why they came here to begin with.”

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agustin.gurza@latimes.com