Over the years, Las Vegas has been home to a glittering array of stars. Its sheer beauty and proximity to Los Angeles make it an ideal home base. Many artists started their musical careers on the Las Vegas strip. There are literally thousands of artists playing, singing, acting, and miming in Vegas every day! Some of the artists are famous and some just prefer to stay behind the scenes. One person who is a "behind the scenes" man is Jerry Lopez; singer, songwriter, guitarist, and Musical Director of the famous Vegas show Storm.

All artists have had bad times and very good times in their careers, but just how does one keep going in this very lucrative but cutthroat industry?
"You have to be a Kamikaze in this business. You have to love doing it so much to be able to take the disappointments. You get slaughtered and if you don't believe in yourself, it takes most people down. It doesn't have to do with talent. Not always the most talented people succeed. It has to do with tenacity."

"I have traveled all my life but I keep coming back to Vegas. There is always lots of work in Vegas. In every Casino there are about 4-5 bands working every day. The work here is consistent."

Jerry was born into a very musical family in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His father is a musician and songwriter and taught Jerry to play guitar at the age of 5-6. Jerry played in a band that his father had started. It also included Jerry's three brothers, Lenny, Gilbert, and Mark, who are all in show business now. Jerry started in his father's band playing bass guitar, but was thrown into playing lead guitar as a replacement. "Something happened to the guitar player one week and by the weekend I had to be the guitar player. It was out of necessity that I learned."

By the time Jerry had reached the age of 15, he had recorded 13 Mariachi albums, the first one being recorded at the age of 5. "There is certain music I can't get enough of, Marvin Gaye being one of them, but Mexican love ballads have always been with me. Mariachi was the first thing I got into. I was 5 when I recorded my first record. Music keeps me young."

Jerry has played with a lot of Jazz and R&B artists, but claims that funk music is his favorite music to play and listen to. "I grew up listening to James Brown. It's the sort of music I like listening to. While I was on the road with Ricky Martin, the band would have listening sessions where each one of the guys goes out and tries to find the newest and greatest music out. I got a great education by traveling with that band. I learned so much from them. I found so much music that I had never heard."

In fact, it was while Jerry was on the road with Ricky Martin that he was given the opportunity to be Musical Director for Storm. "Angelo Medina, who is Executive Producer of Storm and also Ricky Martin's manager, asked me if I would come out of the Ricky gig to do Storm. I had never done anything like this before! There are lots of actors, acrobats, and of course lots of singing. I also play and sing in the show."

Other people working on the show picked all the music for Storm. Jerry's job was to arrange it and assemble the band. But at the same time, Jerry was asked to put together a Latin Pop show for his friends at the Fiesta Hotel. Carlos David Perez, with whom Jerry was working on the Ricky Martin tour, was the artist he came up with. Jerry specifically picked each band member for Storm to be interchangeable with the Carlos David show. "I've been building bands my whole life. I picked both bands for Storm and Carlos' show at the same time. Some musicians are suited for better things. Danny Falcone, the Storm trumpet player, was with Tom Jones. The drummer, Eddie Garcia, is the drummer in my band Santa Fe. He's a lot like Waldo Madera from the Ricky Martin band. He's very familiar with Latin rhythms, but he's a strong Pop, R&B, and Rock drummer. The bass player, Adrian Garcia, is from Miami on strong recommendation by David Cabrera, also from the Ricky Martin band, who I would have to say is one of the finest musicians I have ever worked with. David is just phenomenal. He's scary. There is nobody better than David Cabrera. I tend to marry certain musicians! I'm always on the lookout for great musicians. That's my gift. I like to surround myself with really strong players."

Although Jerry has a long history in the music industry, it was the Ricky Martin tour that taught him what he needed to know to make Storm the success that it is. Storm is going great, selling lots of tickets. Being on the Ricky tour taught me tons! It showed me a whole new facet of the music industry. I actually based the Storm show on what I learned from being on that tour. In fact, I had Arturo Ortiz (the LLVL tour Musical Director) come out to Vegas and he helped with Storm. When I was offered the job in the beginning, I told Arturo that I would need him. He also helped with some arrangements."

Jerry claims that working with Bill Champlin (Chicago) has been his favorite gig to date. They have worked together for around 12 years in different ways, quite often writing songs together. "Bill has been like a benefactor to me. I toured Europe and Japan with him. He's a very generous person. I look up to him a lot. He doesn't mind sharing his strength." Bill's CD Runaway is the greatest CD that Jerry has ever heard. "I hear something new in it every time I listen to it. It's a classic."