Silverio Pérez

Silverio Pérez (born July 18, 1944) is a musician, writer, comedian, entrepreneur and broadcasting media host, born in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. He is known for several reasons, among them:

  • He has written several books. The most recents Un Espejo en la Selva, a novel, and La Vitrina Rota o qué carajo pasó aquí? were awarded by International Latino Book Awards as Best drama and historical Book respectively.
  • 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 Los Rayos Gamma (The Gamma Rays)[1][2]
  • performing with the nueva trova group called Haciendo Punto en Otro Son.
  • his motivational lectures which are usually called "Humortivación" (Humortivation).
  • allegedly coining the term chupacabra to name the mythical creature responsible for various attacks on animals in Puerto Rico, Mexico and the United States[3]

He is the composer of songs, among them, the danza dedicated to the island of Vieques ("Isla Nena").

Biography

Pérez is the oldest of eleven brothers and sisters. The Pérez's are of Hebrew Spanish Anusim origin. While Pérez was a teenager he became involved in various church singing groups and in the Puerto Rican production of Up with People. He later formed a duo, Silverio y Roxana, that specialized in Puerto Rican music, and as a result, was a guest -and later hosted- an autochthonous Puerto Rican music television program, "Borinquen Canta", along with news broadcaster Guillermo José Torres. He later studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, 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.

Pérez formally started his career with the singing group Haciendo Punto en Otro Son 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 Garcia, Jossy Latorre, Nano Cabrera and Tony Croatto, 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 show. In Los Rayos Gamma, he teamed up with Sunshine Logroño, Jacobo Morales and 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, 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. He also wrote, in 1996, a book named Humortivacion, which promotes motivation through humor. Currently, Pérez also hosts a radio show, Arranca en Fa!. Humortivacion had a sequel, Mas Humortivacion, and a follow-up, "Domesticando tu dinosario"

Pérez also writes a column in El Nuevo Día newspaper.

In the mid-1990s, an electric gate caught Pérez's right arm and fractured various arm and hand bones, for which he underwent surgery in at least four occasions. On October 31, 2005, Pérez had a cancerous tumor removed from his prostate. Until then, Pérez had been fairly successful in hiding his illness from the Puerto Rican public.

(2017) He is currently offering conferences in Puerto Rico and in United States about the current situation on the Island based on his book :La Vitrina rota o qué carajo pasó aquí in which he explained why Puerto Rico filed for a bankruptcy.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Guernsey, Otis L. (May 1, 2000). Theater Yearbook 1990–1991: The Complete Broadway and Off-Broadway Sourcebook. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 389–. ISBN 978-1-55783-107-1. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
  2. ↑ Yépez, Arturo (November 30, 2005). Humor a Quien Humor Merece (in Spanish). La Editorial, UPR. pp. 119–. ISBN 978-0-8477-0301-2. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
  3. ↑ Román, Reinaldo L. (2007). Governing spirits: religion, miracles, and spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898–1956. UNC Press Books. pp. 198–. ISBN 978-0-8078-5836-3. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
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