Published in The Islander Magazine March 2014
When Texas City born singer-songwriter, Sherita Perez, was a little girl her mother and grandmother frequently sang the popular tune, “You Are My Sunshine” around the house. No doubt Perez, with her bright eyes, warm smile, and Norah Jones meets Edie Brickell (remember her from the 80’s?) voice, absorbed much of that sunshine. Somewhere along the way, however, she wanted to be more than “sunny” – she wanted respect (now throw in a little Sandra Bernhard sass). Respect as a woman, a songwriter, a musician, and a frontwoman. Perez’s on stage persona demands respect and is a confident mix of sexy, sweet and feminine with flashes of street-wise masculine toughness. “A lot of women (singers) don’t understand it’s important to be a good musician. I decided a long time ago that I don’t want to be just some silly little girl. I want to be a respected musician that can not only do everything a girl does but also compete with men. Even when I was young I’d see a guy with a guitar and think ‘I want to be that guy’ - not as in be a man, but I want to play the guitar like that. When I step on stage the other acts that are male fronted bands get nervous because they know I have something that they don’t have plus something they do have. That’s important to me because I want to be respected”
Perez’s desire for respect may have inspired her most popular, if not most controversial, song to date. A bluesy anthem for the too-scared-to-love contingent of the male population called, “Run (Motherfu**er Run)”. Although Perez insists she only uses curse words when they help drum home a point more effectively she doesn’t deny an early childhood restriction on cursing possibly playing a part in her more recently acquired verbal freedom. “When I was a child I wasn’t allowed to curse, and my grandmother was so sharp I didn’t even think curse words. I was raised very Christian. When I was a teenager I started picking it up to blend in.” Perez also sites living in New York City for many years as an influence on her vocabulary. “You had to - just to survive,” she says. As for her song, “Run” she claims that the song wouldn’t be far from a Dr. Seuss poem if it weren’t for the curse words. “Curse words have a certain energy to them, especially when you’re on stage and your trying to say something like what I’m saying in this song. Without the curse words people wouldn’t enjoy it as much. No matter how beautiful another song is, or how pretty I sing, or how poetic it is... People want to buy that song from me on the spot.” Although Perez is yet to record a full album of her work, she’s been featured many times on KPFT as an in-studio guest and been seen on many Galveston stages (The Beach Hut, Captain Jack’s, Float Bar) doing her charismatic live show either solo with an acoustic guitar, or with any number of collaborators like bassist extraordinaire, Cisco Ruiz.
Perez first started singing at 14 years of age on stage with local songwriter, Benny Brasket. Currently she’s working on various projects with some of the regions best musicians including, Rhonda Roberts aka “The Ukulele Cutie” (featured in the Islander in 2012) on a project called “Little Spear”. Perez and Roberts will soon be traveling to Austin to work with Grammy-nominated producer, Chris “Frenchie” Smith at The Bubble Recording Studio. Perez thoroughly enjoys the collaborative songwriting process and is also teaming up with Paul Craig, and Matt Ligrani and James Herrington from Houston band, InAltum, for a project titled, “Fear The Poet”. Though Perez says the songs with “Fear the Poet” are an eclectic mix of styles most were inspired by a personal experience. “I try to pick up on an emotion I’m having. Someone will play something or I’ll play something on the guitar and what started as a whisper of a melody becomes words and they just come out. A lot of times I’ll take out my cell phone and record. What starts as nonsense is, when I go back and listen, sometimes an interesting song.”
Sherita Perez is driven by a sense of destiny these days, along with her take-no-prisoners attitude, and will be competing with “Fear the Poet” in the Hard Rock Café’s upcoming band competition. Look for Sherita Perez live this summer in Galveston and on YouTube, Facebook and ReverbNation (reverbNation.com/SheritaPerez)
Photography: Zach Tate, Hair: Bryanna Halligan, Makeup: Mercedes B. Flores, Personal Styling: Oscar Bispe, Omar Lisandro
