Óscar Pérez is a Dominican singer and comedian: a founding frontman of the merengue orchestra Tierra Seca in the early 1990s who went on to become one of the Dominican Republic's most admired television imitators, famed above all for a Nelson Ned impression that became legend alongside Freddy Beras Goico.

The Singing Years

From Baní, Pérez sang — including chorus work — in the orchestras of Rubby Pérez, Aníbal Bravo and Carlos David before joining Tierra Seca, the project empresario Raphy D'Oleo built around three young singers: Danny Vásquez, Herodys Ureña and Pérez. The trio's choreographed front line carried the group to its 1993 debut album «El nombre lo dice todo» and the Premios Casandra Orquesta Revelación del Año award; it was in Tierra Seca, by his profiles, that Pérez began imitating voices. When the group's partners split in 1995, he and Danny Vásquez formed Cangrejo Band («El baile de la sopa») before both returned to Tierra Seca. The original trio reunited on stage in 2013–2014 as Tierra CK, a comeback that did not hold.

The Imitator

In 1998 Pérez joined Telecentro, co-creating the comedy troupe Los Electrolocos — he played "el Teléfono" — and acting in the series Ciudad Nueva. A decade of Dominican television followed: Divertido con Jochy, radio's El Vacilón de la Mañana, and programs alongside Boruga and Roberto Salcedo. In late 2008 he joined Con Freddy y Punto, where Freddy Beras Goico hailed him on air as a master of imitation. His signature piece — an uncanny Nelson Ned, performed even with Nelson Ned himself on stage — passed into Dominican television folklore, as did his ex-president Hipólito Mejía, whom he played in the 2009 film Lío de Faldas. His gallery of voices runs from Anthony Ríos, Rubby Pérez and Fernando Villalona to José José, Julio Iglesias and Luis Miguel.

Current Stage

Since 2016 Pérez has been a founding cast member of La Opción 13.0, the midday comedy program on Telecentro (Canal 13), where the show honored him at its tenth anniversary in August 2026. When Tierra Seca returned in October 2026, Pérez appeared with his old bandmates in photographs and on television, but said publicly that management had blocked him from performing in the comeback concerts.

Legacy

Óscar Pérez bridges two Dominican stages: the merengue front line of the 1990s and the golden age of television imitation that followed. Tierra Seca's founding trio is incomplete without him — a fact the group's own public keeps restating at every reunion — and his Nelson Ned remains the standard against which Dominican imitators are measured.