E-mail a friendMargie Perez
airdate August 25, 2008
Margie Perez is a New Orleans-based singer-songwriter and a Hurricane Katrina survivor. Blending blues, pop, New Orleans funk and Latin music, her lyrics are often sung in English and Spanish. She's performed at legendary venues around the Crescent City and sang backup for legendary songwriter Allen Toussaint. Her next album, 'Singing for my Supper,' is set to release in September. Perez currently resides in Habitat for Humanity's Musicians Village and will be speaking on the first day of the Democratic National Convention.
New Orleans-based singer describes how she was impacted by Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. (4:02)
Margie Perez
Tavis: When New Orleans-based singer Margie Perez's house was destroyed three years ago this week in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it was surely unimaginable that three years later she'd be addressing in prime time the Democratic National Convention.
[Clip]
Tavis: Strong words, Margie.
Margie Perez: Yeah. Had to be said.
Tavis: Yeah. First of all, congrats on your prime time speech.
Perez: Thank you.
Tavis: How did you find your way here tonight? How did this happen?
Perez: Well, I got a call from the DNC through a friend of mine who said they were looking for somebody who lives in the Musician's Village, the Habitat for Humanity project. And so they called me and I told them that I had happened to have met Barack Obama two years ago at the Habitat site. He took a tour of my house.
And so they interviewed me a little more and then called me back a little while later and said, "Yeah, we're going to fly you out to speak at the convention." (Laughter) Okay.
Tavis: Take me back three years ago very quickly. What happened three years ago for you?
Perez: I was living in a house in the Broadmoor area of New Orleans and it got about seven feet of water, and I evacuated to Washington, D.C. for about four months. But the whole time I was, "I'm coming back, I'm coming back to New Orleans," and four months later I did. And that was - then I applied for the Habitat for Humanity house in the Musician's Village.
Tavis: How did that process work? How did you end up in the Musician's Village?
Perez: They have a long list of qualifications - income, the fact you had to have lived in New Orleans before the storm - and I luckily was fortunate enough to qualify. And you also had to put 350 hours towards the building of your house.
Tavis: You're not born and raised in New Orleans.
Perez: No, no.
Tavis: How did you find your way there, and where did you first go there?
Perez: Ten years before I moved to New Orleans I went there for the first time for the Jazzfest, and it just changed my life.
Tavis: Kind of sucked you in, huh?
Perez: Yeah. I started writing music, I put a CD out, and I just - the whole time, I kept coming back for Jazzfest every year, and then started coming up with more excuses to come to New Orleans. And finally I just - there was a point in my life where I could just do it, and so I moved.
Tavis: I was just there a few months ago. How is the recovery coming along, at least from your vantage point? From where you live and how you see it?
Perez: Well, it's interesting. In my area where the Habitat houses are being built, the neighborhood, it's slow - there's very slow progress. But the house right across the street from me, a family was rebuilding their house as I was building my house, and the day that their trailer was finally taken away and I could see their house there, it was - I went over and just congratulated them, and it was great.
But right next to them is a house that hasn't even been gutted yet. So there's -
Tavis: So slow, slow.
Perez: Yeah.
Tavis: I got to run here. When you walked out on stage, the first thing I noticed was your pendant, your necklace - that New Orleans crescent. Did you - you made this?
Perez: Yes, it's a fleur-de-lis. Besides being a singer-songwriter, I also make these. They're clay, polymer clay jewelry, and I call them fleur delirious.
Tavis: Very nice. I noticed it when you walked in. Congrats on being here, and all the best to you as you and the city continue to recover down in New Orleans. Nice to have you on the program.
Perez: Thank you.
Tavis: Thank you.
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