Silverio Pérez Figueroa (born July 18, 1948 in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican musician, writer, comedian, entrepreneur and broadcasting media host.

Early life

Pérez is the oldest of the eleven children of Silverio Pérez Rosado and Victorina Figueroa Amador. The Pérez are of

Sephardi Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...

Anusim Anusim ( he, אֲנוּסִים, ; singular male, anús, he, אָנוּס ; singular female, anusáh, , meaning "coerced") is a legal category of Jews in ''halakha'' (Jewish law) who were forced to abandon Judaism against their will, typically ...

origin. While Pérez was a teenager he became involved in various church singing groups and in the Puerto Rican production of

Up with People Up with People (UWP) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Up with People stages song and dance performances promoting themes such as multiculturalism, racial equality, and positive thinking. History Archives The UWP Archives ...

. He later formed a duo, Silverio y Roxana, that specialized in Puerto Rican music, and as a result, was a guest -and later hosted- a typical Puerto Rican music television program, ''"Borinquen Canta"'', along with news broadcaster

Guillermo José Torres Guillermo José Torres (born 1944 in Ponce, Puerto Rico) is a retired Puerto Rican television reporter and news anchorman. Served with the U.S. Army as a Captain in the Vietnam War and later in the Puerto Rico Air National Guard. He worked for WA ...

. He later studied Chemical Engineering at the

University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (UPRM) or Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez (RUM) in Spanish (also referred to as Colegio and CAAM in allusion to its former name), is a public land-grant university in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. UPRM ...

, but remained active as a part-time singer while completing his studies. He then realized that Engineering, while a lucrative career, did not fulfill his vocation as a singer. During his period as a student of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, Perez met and befriended such legendary figures as politician Jose Enrique Arraras, basketball star Fufi Santori and sportscaster Elliott Castro. (in Spanish)

Career

Pérez formally started his career with the singing group

Haciendo Punto en Otro Son ''Haciendo Punto en Otro Son'' is a ''Nueva Trova'' band from Puerto Rico, founded in 1975. They recorded fourteen albums and performed in Latin America, the Caribbean and United States. Band members included Tony Croatto, Silverio Pérez, Josy ...

with four debut concerts at a night club called "La Tea" in San Juan (October 30 – November 2, 1975). This band, whose original members included Irvin García, Jossy Latorre,

Nano Cabrera Nano Cabrera is a singer, guitarist, and composer born in Condado, Puerto Rico, who was a member of Haciendo Punto en Otro Son,

and

Tony Croatto Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

, toured all of Puerto Rico and some other countries, recording various albums and 8-tracks. The group faced blacklisting in some Puerto Rican towns due to the political nature of some of its songs, and experienced numerous personnel changes over time (most notably Croatto's, who as a non-native Puerto Rican felt uncomfortable by the situation). Haciendo Punto would "break up" twice during the 1980s, to be reformed in the late 1990s. After the group went into a hiatus, Pérez went into Puerto Rican television with the ''

Los Rayos Gamma Los Rayos Gamma is a Puerto Rican comedy troupe specializing in political satire. The group was founded in the late 1960s and is currently composed of: * Jacobo Morales: actor, writer, director, comedian * Silverio Pérez: musician, comedian, en ...

'' show. In ''Los Rayos Gamma'', he teamed up with

Sunshine Logroño Emmanuel Logroño (born November 1, 1951), better known as Sunshine Logroño, is an American actor. Logroño has worked in Puerto Rican media for close to three decades. Early years Born in New York to a Puerto Rican mother, Logroño moved to S ...

Jacobo Morales Jacobo Morales (born 12 November 1934) is a Puerto Rican actor, poet, writer, playwright, filmmaker, and auteur.Horacio Olivo to satirize Puerto Rican politics. Later on, he became the show host of the successful program, ''En Serio Con Silverio''. In 1995, he was credited with coining the term ''

chupacabra The chupacabra or chupacabras (, literally 'goat-sucker'; from es, chupar, 'to suck', and , 'goats') is a legendary creature in the folklore of parts of the Americas, with its first purported sightings reported in Puerto Rico in 1995. The na ...

'', referring to creatures around Puerto Rico with a habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats. In 2000, he debuted in the show '' Anda Pa'l Cará'' on

Tele Once WLII-DT (channel 11), branded on-air as TeleOnce, is a television station licensed to Caguas, Puerto Rico, serving the Territories of the United States#Permanently inhabited territories, U.S. territory as an affiliate of Univision and UniMás. ...

(now

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...

Puerto Rico); it aired until 2009. * hosting several successful Puerto Rican television shows during his career including the most recent '' Anda Pa'l Cará''. * performing with the known group of political satire called ''

'' (''The Gamma Rays'') * performing with the

nueva trova Nueva Trova (, "new trova") is a movement in Cuban music that emerged around 1967/68 after the Cuban Revolution of 1959, and the consequent political and social changes. Nueva Trova has its roots in the traditional trova, but differs from it beca ...

group called ''

''. * his motivational lectures which are usually called "Humortivación" (Humortivation). * allegedly coining the term

to name the mythical creature responsible for various attacks on animals in Puerto Rico,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and the United States

Accident and illness

In 1989, an electric gate caught Pérez's right arm and fractured various arm and hand bones, for which he underwent surgery on at least four occasions. On October 31, 2005, Pérez had a cancerous tumor removed from his

prostate The prostate is both an accessory gland of the male reproductive system and a muscle-driven mechanical switch between urination and ejaculation. It is found only in some mammals. It differs between species anatomically, chemically, and phys ...

. Until then, Pérez had been fairly successful in hiding his illness from the Puerto Rican public.

Works

He wrote, in 1996, a book named ''Humortivación'' ("Humortivation", a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsPPD, PNP, & PIP) that have dominated politics in the island since 1968. It was followed up in 2008 by another political critique, ''Desde mi grúa: manual del elector aguzao'' ("From My Crane: Manual of the Intelligent Voter", ). In 2009 he released ''Prefiero ser trovador: décimas con amor y humor'' () as a book + CD bundle, which was later followed in 2011 by ''Punto decimal: décimas para decir más'', also a book + CD bundle. In 2010 he wrote a motivational book, ''Abracadabra: buenas palabras'' ("Abracadabra: Good Words", ). He also wrote ''Paso a paso… por el Camino de Santiago: Crónica de un peregrino'' ("Step by Step… Through the Road to Santiago: Chronicle of a Peregrine", 2014, ), a memoir chronicling his experience during his peregrination to the

Santiago de Compostela Cathedral The Santiago de Compostela Archcathedral Basilica ( Spanish and Galician: ) is part of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela and is an integral component of the Santiago de Compostela World Heritage Site in Galicia, Spain. The ...

in Galicia,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. In 2016 he wrote ''La vitrina rota o ¿qué carajo pasó aquí?'' ("The Broken Vitrine, or What the Fuck Happened Here?", ), in which he offered his "introspective view into Puerto Rican history from 1898 to the present", with emphasis on why Puerto Rico filed for bankruptcy. During 2017, he also offered conferences in Puerto Rico and in United States about the island's current situation, based on the contents of this book. In 2017 he wrote a novel, ''Un espejo en la selva'' ("A Mirror in the Jungle", ), about a Puerto Rican psychologist kidnapped by

FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army ( es, link=no, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de ColombiaEjército del Pueblo, FARC–EP or FARC) is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian confl ...

militants in Colombia. He has written several books. Two of the most recent ones, ''Un Espejo en la Selva'' (2017, a novel) and ''La vitrina rota o ¿qué carajo pasó aquí?'' (2016), were awarded by International Latino Book Awards as Best Drama and Historical Book, respectively. He is the composer of songs, among them, the

danza Danza is a musical genre that originated in Ponce, a city in southern Puerto Rico. It is a popular turn-of-the-twentieth-century ballroom dance genre slightly similar to the waltz. Both the danza and its cousin the contradanza are sequence dan ...

dedicated to the island of

Vieques Vieques (; ), officially Isla de Vieques, is an island and municipality of Puerto Rico, in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands. Vieques is part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, ...

("Isla Nena"). In 2018 he wrote his memoir book ''Sólo CUENTO con el CUENTO que te CUENTO'' ("I Only COUNT with the TALE I TELL You", ), where he told his memories as "parent, professional, artist, and Puerto Rican". Pérez writes a column for El Nuevo Día called (Point of View). He gives "Humortivacion" talks in Puerto Rico and the US, promoting his most recent novel by the same name. In 2020, Pérez recorded with his spouse and 8 other musicians.

References

External links

Haciendo Punto en Otro Son
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Silverio 1948 births American columnists American commentators Living people Political commentators 20th-century Puerto Rican male singers 21st-century Puerto Rican male singers Puerto Rican comedians People from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico