SHE'S FEARLESS STREET WITH SMARTS AND HEART:
RAPPER/SINGER-SONGWRITER/ARTIST/RECORD COMPANY CO-OWNER AMANDA PEREZ
POISED FOR STARDOM AS HER ANGEL TAKES FLIGHT

***
New Powerhowse Records follow-up to Where You At? yields three hit singles
(so far), including multi-format crossover "Angel" as Perez detours road to ruin

She's as soulful a singer as you'll hear anywhere, and she can throw down with the best of them, too. She's Amanda Perez, and she is tough love to the bone. Already embraced by the media as a lady thug, she's really just fearless street with smarts and heart. More lady than thug, she's inked up, but hey -- a girl's gotta have her body art. As her new release, Angel, takes flight, which follows up her early 2002 Powerhowse Records debut, Where You At?, the rapper / singer-songwriter / record company co-owner from Ft. Wayne, IN, is poised for stardom. Yeah, she's all that.

Nearly 90 million people can't be wrong. That's how many pairs of ears have heard her multi-format crossover hit, "Angel," on radio stations from San Diego to Miami, Las Vegas to Los Angeles -- and Ft. Wayne, too. Tune in to Top 40, rhythmic or urban and there's Perez, being real and singing like her heart's on fire.

"I believe that my life is to show people that I go through what they go through, and there's someone out there just like them," she reveals. And she's been through a lot, which explains why so many are feeling this album; Perez writes what she lives and lives what she writes.

"Angel" isn't the first song from the album of the same name to soar through the rarefied air of Top 10 singledom. "Never" got the party started in a major way, and before Mike Q and his radio promotions battalion at Powerhowse could say 'remix,' "I Like It" was the sound of summer, ingratiating itself onto tight playlists everywhere - and that doesn't happen very often. The fact that a song from an upstart on an independent record label broke the sound barrier without even trying speaks volumes for Perez, not only as the performer, but also as the songwriter and co-producer of the song and album.

Her artistry is all over Angel, writing and co-producing all of the songs, as well as being the voice that gives them life. The album is a seamless continuation of Where You At?, and contains five bonus tracks, further showcasing Perez' diversity in the vocal department, as a songpoet and behind the board. A 50-percent partner in Powerhowse, making crucial decisions and scouting new artists, don't be surprised when this mad talent lands her as a featured performer with established artists on their tracks and in their music videos.

And to think Perez, who fears nothing and no one, could just as easily be in jail right now instead of doing a promotional tour. Divine intervention in the form of Mike Q detoured her road to ruin when he took a detour of his own. In Ft. Wayne to sign a rock band that didn't materialize, he asked the hotel desk associate who the hot talent was in town. In the spirit of nepotism, she slipped him her sister-in-law's demo. As his plane made its final approach to land in Los Angeles, Mike Q gave a listen to the Perez compositions. And then he boarded a plane back to Ft. Wayne.

"I was doin' things I definitely should not have been doin', tryin' to get money to get my album set. I didn't graduate from school, and I felt like I wasn't accomplishing anything. And then I was blessed because I met somebody, which is Mike Q," Perez proudly recalls. "I realized that I didn't have to keep doin' that bad stuff"

As for others who may entertain the notion of taking a wrong turn to finance their dreams, Perez asserts in no uncertain terms, "They'll only ruin their lives. Why take the risk? It's a waste of time and you won't get nowhere."

Her inspiring plea: "Don't give up on your dream and don't turn to somethin' that's only gonna get you in trouble.
If you're caught, you're gonna be gone for a long time, and then you're really not gonna accomplish your dream.
If I would have kept goin' the way I was, I would have never made it."

Much better on magazine covers than in mug shots, Perez continues, "I knew that stuff wasn't my life.
I asked God to let me use what He gave me, and a week later I met Mike Q."

She asks. She receives. She gives back. Perez, who used to box the boys in the 'hood, plans to hold open the door for others in her hometown, as it was opened for her. "I want to make a studio here for people who want to become something in life," she says thoughtfully. "They don't have to have a lot of money; I just want to give them the opportunity that I have. Then later on, I feel that God would bless me in return."

In listening to this and so many other things she says, you can't help but smile. There are angels with dirty faces, to borrow from the title of the old gangster movie, and then there's Perez, an angel with tattoos - and hit records.