Rudy Pérez facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rudy Pérez
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Rudy Pérez in 2022.
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| Birth name | Rudy Amado Pérez |
| Born | May 14, 1958 Pinar del Río, Cuba |
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| Years active | 1983–present |
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Rudy Amado Pérez (born May 14, 1958) is a famous Cuban-born American musician, songwriter, and producer. He is also a composer, arranger, sound engineer, musical director, and singer. Rudy Pérez is known for his work in ballads, but he has also created music in many other styles.
He has produced over 70 albums and written more than 1,000 songs. Over 300 of his songs have reached the number one spot or made it into the top 10 music charts. He has worked with many popular international artists like Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Julio Iglesias, and Luis Miguel.
Rudy Pérez has won many music awards. He was named the most important Latin composer four times. In 2010, Billboard magazine called him the "Producer of the Decade" because he had the most top 10 hits during that time. He is also the first Latin producer to win Billboard's "Producer of the Year" award for four years in a row.
Pérez owns two record labels: Rudy Pérez Enterprises (RPE) and Bullseye Productions. He helped create the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (LARAS), which gives out the Latin Grammys. He also helped produce the very first Latin Grammy Awards of 2000. He is part of the board for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). In 2013, Rudy Pérez and Desmond Child started the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame (LSHOF) in Miami Beach. This organization celebrates important Latino composers and encourages new ones.
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Early Life
Rudy Amado Pérez was born on May 14, 1958, in Pinar del Río, Cuba. His family was Baptist, and his grandfather was a Baptist minister. Rudy's father, Rudy Amado, was a painter, writer, and minister. He was a lieutenant in the army of former Cuban president Fulgencio Batista. After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, his father was put in prison because he had been involved in conflicts with Fidel Castro's communist forces. Rudy's mother, Elsa Pérez, was a seamstress. He also had three siblings: two sisters and a brother.
When Rudy was nine years old, his family moved to the United States. They left Cuba to escape the political situation under Fidel Castro. The Pérez family first lived in a refugee camp in Miami. Soon after, they settled in Liberty City, Florida.
Rudy became interested in music when he was a child. He loved bolero and rock music. He started singing at age two and could sing perfectly in tune. He would use anything as a musical instrument. After hearing the music of Frédéric Chopin, Rudy was inspired to become a musician and learn piano. The same year his family arrived in the U.S., he started singing and playing in the choir at his neighborhood Baptist church. Ministers there taught him to sing and play the guitar and piano. Rudy was also influenced by the African-American community, which introduced him to R&B and gospel music.
At age twelve, Rudy worked for a company that made barbed wire. He wanted to buy an electric guitar because his parents could not afford one. After working for a year, he bought his first musical instrument. However, he could not play it for three months because his hands were injured from working at the factory. He then started taking private guitar lessons. As a teenager, he worked at hardware stores, gas stations, and as a valet to buy more instruments and amplifiers.
Pearly Queen Band
Rudy Pérez left school to join rock bands in his neighborhood. At age 15, he was invited to join Pearly Queen. This was a popular top 40 cover band in Miami in 1973. The band sang in English and played the popular "hit" songs of the time.
Pearly Queen won a contract to play at Big Daddy Flanigan clubs in the U.S. and Canada. They played five sets per night, five or six nights a week. Playing in these clubs helped Rudy learn about music production. He was in charge of arranging the songs the band played. He decided to study how to arrange and record music. The band released two albums: Treasure Hunt (1974) and Disco? (1976). They also had four singles and EPs. Rudy stayed with the group for five years. At age twenty, he left the band to produce and write songs for local Latino singers in Miami.
Becoming a Composer
Starting at Miami Sound Studios
Rudy Pérez later worked as a helper at Miami Sound Studios. He did tasks like cleaning the studio and getting food for the workers. He lived at the studio for two years after going through a divorce. He cleaned, slept, and watched everything to learn about music production and engineering.
In 1983, he started working at Pablo Cano's Clímax studios in North Miami. He worked there without pay and was allowed to live at the studio for a year and a half. He kept learning about how albums and songs were recorded. He was determined to record his own songs, not just demos for friends.
Pablo Cano's niece discovered Rudy. She heard him perform a song he had written. She showed Cano a ballad Rudy had composed, and Cano decided to hire him permanently with a good salary. This was Rudy's first chance as a composer. Cano offered him to record with a band and present his music to a record company. The band composed four songs, and Rudy gave his songs to top arrangers. However, he was not happy with the changes they made to his songs. He decided to make his music the way he "felt them." During this time, he also worked with other artists he met at the studio, like Roberto Carlos and Gloria Estefan. He continued to study music.
Finally, in 1983, Rudy Pérez released his album ¿Qué voy a hacer sin tí? (What am I going to do without you?). Jose Menendez, who worked at RCA Records, heard the album and decided to hire him.
This is when Rudy Pérez became a producer. A few weeks later, while on a promotional tour in Puerto Rico, he met José Feliciano. Menendez had played Rudy's song "¿Qué voy a hacer sin tí?" for Feliciano. Feliciano asked Rudy to produce his next album. Rudy produced most of Feliciano's Ya soy tuyo album (I'm already yours). The song "Me has echado al olvido" (you have thrown me into oblivion) from this album reached number one. This album also received two Grammy Award nominations in 1985. The album helped Feliciano become a top Latin music artist again. Rudy Pérez continued to produce and compose music for Feliciano for two decades.
Composing and Producing Since 1986
Rudy Pérez's album ¿Qué voy a hacer sin tí? earned a Gold record. In 1986, he won a Grammy Award as Producer in the "Best Latin Pop Performance" category for José Feliciano's song "Ya Soy Tuyo" ("I am already for you"). In 1988, Billboard named him "Producer of the Year" for the first time. His success with Feliciano opened doors for him to work with other singers. In 1992, WEA hired him to help produce Luis Miguel's album Aries. This meant he had an exclusive contract and could not produce for others until 1997. In 1993, he won another Grammy Award as Producer and Songwriter for "Best Latin Pop Album" for Aries. The next year, Rudy Pérez released his second album, "Rudy" (also known as "Sencillos y otros"; in English: Singles and others). The most popular song from it was "Mi manera de querer" (My way of loving). However, this album was not very successful, so Rudy decided to focus only on being a composer.
In 1997, after his contract with WEA ended, Rudy Pérez wrote and produced the album Lo Mejor De Mi for Mexican singer Cristian Castro. This album had hit songs like "Lo Mejor de Mí" (which stayed on the charts for over 90 weeks), "Después de Ti...¿Qué?" (dedicated to his mother), and "Si Tú Me Amaras". This album reached #1 on Hot Latin Tracks in 1997 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album in 1998. The title song was also included in a 1999 compilation. This successful album, along with songs by Millie that Rudy also composed, won him ASCAP Awards in 2000.
In 1997, Ricky Martin also reached #1 on Hot Latin Tracks. In 1999, Rudy received awards for José Feliciano's Senor Bolero and for producing the album Llegar A Ti by Christian artist Jaci Velasquez. This album included the ballad "Solo Tú," which made it to the top 10 on Billboard's Latin chart. That year, he won the ASCAP Award for "Songwriter of the Year."
In 2000, Pérez produced the album Eterno for Luis Fonsi. He composed seven of its 13 songs, including the hit "Imagíname Sin Ti" and its English version.
Also in 2000, because of his successful work with Jaci Velasquez's Spanish album, Rudy Pérez decided to produce the Spanish-language album Mi Reflejo for Christina Aguilera. This album became one of the most successful Spanish albums in the world. It sold 1 million copies in the U.S. and 2.5 million more worldwide. It won the 2001 Latin Grammy for "Best Female Pop Album." The success of this album and the Grammy Award allowed him to work with English-speaking artists like Westlife and Michael Bolton, composing songs in Spanish for them.
After working on Spanish songs for these artists, they also wanted him to work on their English songs. For example, his work with Jaci Velasquez led to the song "Imagine Me Without You," which was an English version of "Imagíname sin tí" that he produced for Luis Fonsi. This song was nominated for a CMA - Dove Award for Best Song of the Year. In 2002, Rudy Pérez wrote "I Wanna Hear You Say It" for Michael Bolton's English album. He also co-wrote and co-produced the tracks with Bolton and Billy Mann. He worked on English songs for other singers too.
Many of his songs have become top ten hits. In 2002, the song "Quítame ese hombre" by Pilar Montenegro, which he produced, was the first to reach number 1 and stayed there for 13 weeks. After this, he continued to compose and produce many other number 1 songs. Another of his songs, "El Dolor De Tu Presencia" by Jennifer Peña, also produced in 2002, stayed at No. 1 for nine weeks.
In 2004, Rudy Pérez started his own record label, Rudy Pérez Enterprises (RPE).
In 2005, Rudy Pérez was chosen as the Latino producer/songwriter of the year. He also wrote songs for all of Il Divo's albums. Between 2006 and 2007, he produced Beyoncé's Spanish album Irreemplazable, which was nominated for a Grammy.
In September 2009, he launched his second record label, Bullseye Productions.
In January 2010, he won the "Producer of the Decade" award from Billboard for his many successful songs over ten years.
In 2012, Rudy Pérez released his third album, Lo mejor de mí ("The best of me"). This album was a collection of many songs he had composed for other singers, but he sang them himself. Later, he produced the first Spanish language album for American singer Natalie Cole: Natalie Cole en Español, released in 2013. In 2014, Pérez released the single "Despues de ti... ¿Qué?", sung by himself for Mother's Day.
Music in Other Media
Rudy Pérez has also composed and produced many songs for movies and TV shows. His music has been used in films, soap operas, sitcoms, music specials, commercials, and music television channels.
He has worked with advertising companies, writing and producing songs for ads. He wrote and produced music for AT&T's "True Voice" and "Leadership" campaigns, sung by Jon Secada. Rudy Pérez also wrote the original theme song for Univision in 1995, which is still used today. He composed the main theme for the Beverly Hills, 90210 Valentine's episode, "Come as you are." In 1992, Disney hired him to work on the song "Colors of the Wind" for the animated film Pocahontas.
His songs have not only been for singers, movies, and TV. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he wrote and produced the official Olympic song for Telemundo's Olympic coverage. It was sung in English and Spanish by Michelangelo Mejia.
Pérez also wrote "Vamos al Mundial" (Let's go to the World Cup), the official song of the 2002 World Cup, sung by Jennifer Peña.
In 2007, Rudy Pérez produced the song "Amor Gitano" for the soap opera Zorro, La Espada y la Rosa. It was a duet by Alejandro Fernández and Beyoncé. In 2011, he wrote "La fuerza del destino" with Mauricio Abaroa Suzarte. Marc Anthony and Sandra Echeverría sang it for the soap opera of the same title.
A journalist named J. Freedorm du Lac said that Rudy's songs have been used for many different feelings and moments, like "breakups, makeups, courtships, wedding dances, babymaking, proms, self-pity sessions and bouts of teenage melodrama."
Other Projects
On April 23, 2007, Rudy Pérez and DiGa Entertainment announced they would work with elHood.com. This allowed Rudy to create music projects directly with music fans. Their first project was an album for singer and actress Pilar Montenegro. Fans could go to the singer's website, listen to songs from her new album, vote for their favorites, and share their thoughts. The singer chose a fan to join her and Rudy in the studio while they produced the album.
Pérez helped start the Latin Council of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). He and Desmond Child created the Pabellón de la Fama de los Compositores Latinos (in Spanish: Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame – LSHOF). It opened in October 2012 in Miami Beach. Its goal is to honor important Latino composers and inspire new ones. The organization wants to educate, preserve, honor, and celebrate the legacy of great Latin songwriters from around the world. They also plan to help new songwriters through workshops, showcases, scholarships, and online programs.
The Hall of Fame has a committee that chooses 24 Spanish and Portuguese people, and then five winners are selected. The award is a statuette called "The Muse." To be considered, a composer, artist, or song must have been successful for at least 20 years.
The foundation was officially registered in 2012. They are building a museum in Miami that will show things related to Latin music. It will have information about great composers, the stories behind songs and performers, and other educational details. The museum will offer art galleries, music, educational workshops, music classes, composition classes, and scholarships. Pérez and Child plan to expand this foundation to Mexico and Argentina. The museum opened in 2014. The foundation plans to recognize music icons, starting with composers and then other music categories. On April 23, 2013, the first awards gala was held in Miami. It honored seven famous songwriters, including Manuel Alejandro, Jose Feliciano, Julio Iglesias, and Armando Manzanero.
Currently, Rudy Pérez is working on a book with thousands of stories about the many artists he has worked with.
Awards and Recognition
Rudy Pérez's songs have included many top ten hits over the last 20 years. Over 300 of them have been #1 or reached the Top 10 Charts. Some songs have stayed at the top for many weeks, like "Quitame ese hombre" (by Pilar Montenegro; 13 weeks at #1) and "El Dolor de tu precensia" (Jennifer Peña; 9 weeks at #1). He won the Hot Latin Songs award and was the first Hispanic composer and producer to win it. He was also chosen as producer of the year for four years in a row. He is the first Latino producer to win the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks Producer of the Year for four consecutive years. Pérez has won the ASCAP Songwriter of the Year award five times.
The success of his songs has earned him 30 gold records and 50 platinum records. His work has been nominated for 19 Latin Grammy Awards, and he has won five of them. He is considered one of the "most outstanding creators" in international pop music. He was also voted the most important Latin composer and won the "Producer of the Decade" title in 2010 from Billboard magazine. This was because he had more #1 and Top Ten Hits from 2000 to 2010 than any other producer in Latino history. He was also elected the first president of the Florida branch of NARAS.
Rudy Pérez has received over 400 awards for albums that have sold enough to be certified gold and platinum.
Helping Others (Philanthropy)
In 2003, Rudy Pérez started a scholarship program called the ASCAP Foundation (Rudy Pérez Songwriting). This program helps talented Hispanic songwriters who do not have many resources to study at famous music schools around the world. He gave $25,000 to start the first scholarship. The scholarship is given to students from five different universities each year. The first scholarship is given in Miami, and others go to schools like the Juilliard School of Music in New York City and the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico.
In 2012, Rudy Pérez, along with David Frangioni, Mark Hudson, and Jon Secada, created an educational program for talented young musicians called IDA ("Inspire & Develop Artists"). This program guides and teaches young people to develop their musical talent. The program lasts one week. A talented participant is chosen by Rudy's team (made up of composers, engineers, singing teachers, and musicians) through their website. The chosen participant gets to spend a week with the four main mentors, including Rudy Pérez himself. Rudy says that after just one week in the program, the young person "goes a superstar."
According to PR Newswire, the program includes classes in singing, composing, recording, mixing, and studio technology. It also has rehearsals, live performances, stage presence training, and special guests from the music business. Classes are kept small, with a maximum of 12 people, so participants get personal attention. Those chosen work with teachers and experts to learn about all parts of the music industry. By the end of the program, each participant has the skills to compete in the music world. This includes creating an image, choreography training, business basics, and professionally recording their own song to help start their careers.
The program was first offered in English and then in Spanish in January 2013.
Personal Life
Rudy Pérez has one daughter with his first wife, whom he married at age 19. He has four children with his second wife, Betsy.
He says that "life inspired my songs, however, I only write about what I would like to live." He admires artists like Frédéric Chopin, Giacomo Puccini, George Gershwin, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, and Manuel Alejandro.
Rudy Pérez shared that when he worked for Pearly Queen, he only composed English songs. However, after dating a wealthy Spanish girl in Miami whose parents did not approve of their relationship (and sent her away), he heard Julio Iglesias's song "Abrázame" (Hold me). From that moment, Rudy decided to also write songs in Spanish.
Discography
Besides being a composer and producer, Rudy Pérez is also a singer. His albums can be divided into two groups: those he released with the rock band Pearly Queen (1973–1977) and those he released as a solo artist.
Pearly Queen
- Treasure Hunt - 1974
- Disco? - 1976
As a Soloist
- ¿Qué voy a hacer sin tí? - 1984
- Rudy (also known as "Sencillos y otros"; in English: Singles and others) - 1994
- Lo mejor de mí ("The best of me", a collection of his songs, but sung by himself) - 2012
Images for kids
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Rudy Pérez in 2022.
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Liberty City, the African American neighborhood where Perez was raised from age 9
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Pérez learned to sing and play instruments in the Baptist church which his family attended.
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José Feliciano was the first singer whom Pérez produced.
See also
In Spanish: Rudy Pérez para niños
