A full heart

Tuesday, June 8, 2004 | 9:12 a.m.

By Kristen Peterson LAS VEGAS SUN

Full figured and standing 4 feet 11 inches, Veronica Lopez isn't the svelte pop star dancing in a size-0 outfit. She's more the antithesis to the reality show "The Swan."

After years of being dropped by record producers and ignored because she doesn't have the right look or weight, Lopez chose a different avenue into the competitive industry of music.

Her recently released CD "Corazon de Oro" features "Mujeres Sexys," a tribute to plus-size women - or essentially any woman who doesn't conform to supermodel dimensions. The songhas an accompanying video that celebrates Rubenesque women.

"I've had countless producers say, 'Well, if we put out an album you'll need to lose 40 to 50 pounds," said Lopez, who sings in Spanish and English.

"Image is so important in the industry. It really bothers me. I've been singing since I was about 7 years old."

It might be too early to call her V.Lo. But with the right kind of exposure Lopez, who now has her own publishing company, might see some success. Despite frank lyrics, "Mujeres Sexys" is catchy, humorous and has an inviting beat.

Loosely translated, it begins with the lyrics: "A man once told me that the chubby girls shouldn't dance / And he also told me how much more beautiful I would be if I would keep my diet ...

"Like Snow White, I ask my mirror, 'Tell me beautiful mirror and don't be mean' / I look at myself this way and I look at myself that way. 'Tell me if I'm sexy' / I move like this. I move like that. It tells me, 'Dance, dance, dance, thin or chubby, tall or short. All women are sexy.' "

Locals may have already heard of Lopez. She's performed with local production companies and at community events. She's taken "La Gloria de America," a song she wrote and recorded for American immigrants, all the way to Washington, D.C., for the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, where she also performed the national anthem.

"I don't think there was a dry eye in the room," Lopez said. "It was so emotional."

Born and raised in Van Nuys, Calif., Lopez says she started singing with a mariachi band in her father's Mexican restaurant.

She sang in school choirs, theater and competitively before singing gospel in church. Two years ago, after attempts to break into the pop market, she decided to market herself differently.

"I said, 'That's it. I'm going to make it. I'm trying to prove to myself that it could really be done. I want to stand up for all the women.' "

With "Mujeres Sexys," Lopez, who is in her early 30s, says she's not promoting an unhealthy lifestyle. Rather, she's trying to quell unrealistic expectations of women.

"It becomes cruel," Lopez said. "I watch young girls. They are afraid to gain weight to the point they don't eat ... and they start being cruel to girls who don't keep their image. That's terrible.

"When I was younger that wasn't the big issue. We come from different parents, different backgrounds. We're not supposed to be alike."

Ironically, responses from actresses wanting to be in the video for "Mujeres Sexys" (shot in San Bernardino, Calif.) came from thin girls.

"We wanted someone very voluptuous," Lopez said. "They were confused."

The fact that the video features women who are not thin is a victory for Lopez, who was told that girls who are heavy shouldn't sing because they aren't marketable.

"When I walk onstage people are like, 'OK, what is she going to do? She's kind of overweight.' That's why this is the one I wanted to put out first," Lopez said of "Mujeres Sexys."

"I wanted to be known for that song first. The audience, once they hear that song, it doesn't matter what I sing after that. They accept me."

Lopez also performs with the local Ballet Folklorico group, Mexico Vivo, and works with the Student Organization of Latinos. She credits the Hispanic community for helping her launch her career.

"In Spanish they say 'granito del sal,' which means 'a grain of salt,' " Lopez said. "Everyone has put in a little drop of salt in my career."

"Gloria de America" is a thank-you to America and a tribute to her father and other immigrant parents. Lopez's father came to the United States at age 20 with only a sixth-grade education. He eventually got his general contractor's license, and has had his own company for 30 years.

The song, Lopez said, encourages children of immigrants to "do good things in America."

"Our parents didn't sacrifice so we could do bad things," Lopez said. "A lot of youth, they don't really think about it. They take it for granted."

Other songs on the CD include ballads and more traditional mariachi songs.

Lopez is back in the studio working on a rap song about gossip and knocking on doors of Hispanic radio stations hoping for a break with her first CD.

"I'm kind of on a mission," she said. "I hope you like me. This is me."