Danny Rivera

Danny Rivera (born February 28, 1945) is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter who was born in San Juan. He is well-known in Puerto Rico for his political activism. In the 1970s, Rivera had such hits as Jesucristo from Roberto Carlos, Mi Viejo (My Old Man) from Argentinian Piero and Vecino, Dame la Mano (Neighbor, Give me Your Hand) from Puertorrican actor/composer Samuel Molina. Another of his hits at those times was "Mi Pueblo" (My People). This song went so deep into the hearts of "His People" that a group of youngsters at the San Juan Airport sung "Mi Pueblo" to him on one of his arrivals from Venezuela! Rivera sported an afro then, and he became one of the first male public figures in Puerto Rico to wear an earring. The hair and the one earing became the trademark of Danny Rivera for many years. During the 1980s, he relocated to Cayey. In 1988, he married model Alexandra Malagon, whom he later divorced. In 2001, Rivera was arrested and incarcerated for one month in a federal prison for trespassing on the military campgrounds at Vieques. He was one of the most outspoken and recognizable anti-military protesters at the height of national protests. His prison diary and poems were published in a book titled "Enamorado de la Paz" ("In Love with Peace") in 2002. He has shared the stage with Julio Iglesias, Will Smith and Plácido Domingo, and he has headlined at the Madison Square Garden and Carnegie Hall in New York and the Caribe Hilton hotel in San Juan. He received the citizenship of the Dominican Republic in a ceremony in Santo Domingo on March 13, 2008.