Yolanda Perez

• Genre: Banda
• Hometown: Los Angeles

About

It might be easy to dismiss Yolanda Perez as a pre-fab phenomenon, but the young singer was actually born into a family of musicians, including her father Refugio Perez, who played in the Tamborazo Pancho Villa, and both of her grandfathers. A performer since age nine, Perez gained instant fame as a singer when she recorded "Estoy Enamorada" with "Don Cheto" -- a song about an overprotective Mexican father clashing with his young, Americanized daughter. The song struck a nerve for a generation of listeners and it went to No. 3 on the Billboard Regional charts. She recorded "Juran y Juran" with LA-based rapper Sporty Loco in 2004 and has managed to strike a balance between banda and urban regional since then.

- Sarah Bardeen