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Rockin’ Out
SINGER SAYS CLOSETS ARE FOR CLOTHES
What: Richard Cortez with Pauline Pasino
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, May 13
Where: The GEARS Center, 801 E. Gregory St.
Cost: Free
Details: 429-7551 or www.wollenbergrecords.com
When
producers approached Richard Cortez in Manhattan last year, the young
singer-songwriter was asked to "degayify" his image—or tone down his
mannerisms and remove the same-sex references embedded within his music.
He turned them down.
"Somehow, they got their hands on one of my shitty demos," he says, phoning from his home in Pembroke Pines. "Basically, they wanted to put me together as a package and sell me off."
Cortez says the group of NYC music producers—responsible for molding that other "star in a jar" Ricky Martin—pushed him beyond his ethical breaking point.
"I was into it at first," he recalls, rattling off the details in rapid succession. "Then they were trying to get me a speech coach because they said I sounded gay and they wanted to get rid of all of the gay aspects of my music. I didn't feel right about it."
The singer-songwriter says the meeting was a defining point in his career—and his life.
"It was a driving force for me to start my own record label and move back to Florida," Cortez explains. "They even went as far to ask me to get a girlfriend. Telling the truth has been instilled in me since my childhood. I just couldn't lie."
After turning down the producers, Cortez packed his bags and headed back home to Florida to clear his head.
"I was busting my ass singing at a piano bar in NYC to pay rent for my crazy-ass apartment where some guy slept in a kitchen," he says. "Two years later, I have my own label and my records sell on iTunes. Looking back, I made the right decision."
Armed with his debut album "Craving Something Beautiful," Cortez refined his sound—something he calls queer-folk funk—and molded a promising recording career on his own terms.
"I couldn't pull it off anyway," he jokes about playing straight. "I'm too much of a cocksucker to deny it. And I'm not ready to be Clay Aiken and be so gay and tell everybody that I'm not. It just wouldn't work."
No, Cortez isn't the type to whitewash words.
"For me, art is about pushing it to the max," he contends. "I come up with these songs alone in my bedroom, giggling to myself as I'm hitting the bong. So, they're like little confessions. As corny as it sounds, my music is like my diary."
As for his upcoming performance at The GEARS Center 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 13, Cortez says there's no holding back.
"I'm not sugarcoated so my songs aren't sugarcoated," he quips. "When I'm onstage, the only way the audience will have fun is if I'm having fun."
