Johnny Perez, the longtime drummer for the Sir Douglas Quintet, passed away on September 11 in a Los Angeles hospital from complications of cirrhosis of the liver. He was 69.
Sir Douglas Quintet's Johnny Perez
Perez was a Golden Gloves boxer in the early-60’s before turning to music. In 1964, he joined Doug Sahm, Augie Meyers, Jack Barber and Frank Morrin to form the group Sir Douglas. The band hooked up with Houston, TX area producer Huey P. Meaux, who added the Quintet to their name, and started a recording career that would include an eclectic mix of roots music, Mexican conjunto/norteño sounds, British Invasion and Cajun rhythms to develop what would become the quintessential Tex Mex sound.
The groups first record, Sugar Bee, didn’t sell many copies but the followup, She’s About a Mover, made it to 13 on the U.S. singles chart. The group added the 1966 hit The Rains Came (#31) to their repertoire and toured the U.S. and Europe but, upon returning to America from an overseas trip, the group was arrested for possession of a small amount of marijuana. Sahm decided to break up the band, move to San Francisco and put together a new quintet. Perez didn’t follow.
Unfortunately for Sahm, the new band didn’t gel and he found himself in need of a regular drummer, so he convinced Perez to move to California from Texas (along with Augie Meyers) and the reformed Sir Douglas Quintet recorded one of their finest albums, Mendicino. The title song became one of their most loved even though it stalled out at number 27 nationally. The quintet lasted until 1972 when they broke up, reforming again in the early 80’s.
Outside of the Sir Douglas Quintet, Perez also opened Topanga Skyline Studios where such artists as Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne and Bobby McFerrin recorded. He also wrote with Joe “King” Carrasco, composing such Tex Mex classics as Buena and Pachuco Hop.
