It’s hard to believe San Jose Pride is already celebrating its 38th anniversary. As always, in addition to speakers, vendors and general festivities, there will be plenty of music.

On Saturday, the main stage entertainment kicks off with a traditional Aztec ceremony and dance performances by Tlaloc-Chalchiuhtlicue of San Jose and throughout the day features local and regional artists and performers, including a Rocky Horror revue, Sweet HayaH and rapper Micah Tron. Headlining band Tehya closes out Saturday’s show with classic rock, R&B and blues.

Sunday’s lineup includes David Hernandez, who first got the world’s attention in 2008 when he placed 12th on American Idol. He was a big fan of classic soul and R&B and his song selection reflected that. He may not have cracked the top 10, but Hernandez was a fan favorite, and considered by some to have one of the best voices that season.

From the all-girl dance-pop ensemble the Pussycat Dolls, Jessica Sutta brings her solo dance-pop songs to Pride. She departed from the Dolls in 2010 in an effort to launch her solo career. She scored a hit single that next year called “Show Me.” Relatively new Miami singer Sophi will also be performing at Pride. Her single “Asi es el amor” is right in line with the Miami Top 40 scene. It’s a little bit R&B, a little bit EDM and has a Latin backbeat mixed in. It’s the perfect music to dance to.

Another figure in reality show fame playing Pride this year is Monique Abbadie. She was a popular contestant on season four of The Voice, where she auditioned with a Shakira song and got chosen by Shakira to be on her team. Before The Voice, Abbadie was a child star on Sabado Gigante and El Show de Lucky, two Spanish language TV shows.

Headlining Sunday’s lineup on the main stage is dance diva Crystal Waters.

Before Waters got in front of the microphone, she was working behind the scenes doing production work and songwriting in the late ’80s. Her first real turn in the public eye was in 1991 for her house-inspired pop song “Gypsy Woman,” which even In Living Color parodied back then. She continues to release singles, and remains a star in the dance world.

If all of that’s not enough to get the booty shaking, there is the special “Danc’n in the Park” stage which will feature a near non-stop wall of dance music. The DJs featured here include DJ Chris Campos, DJ Joseph Z , DJ Olga T and St. John.

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San Jose native Derek Jameson is known for songs that fuse hard beats with naked emotion. One of the biggest weaknesses of club music is its tendency toward dehumanized, assembly-line blandness, but Jameson turns this blueprint for mechanization on its head with the passionate sincerity of his lyrics. He has an unusual talent for channeling emotion and even a message in the chaos of the dance-floor grind.

Yet surprisingly, that wasn’t always the case. Instead, the singer, dancer and actor, who headlines San Jose Pride this weekend at Discovery Meadow in San Jose says he was actually “the most shut off person when I was younger.” And his journey from that icy teenager to a man with “rule by heart” tattooed on his chest began in the most unexpected of places.

“At 15, I was asked if I wanted a job in entertainment at Paramount’s Great America. I took it not knowing that it would set me up as a performer for the rest of my life,” he says. “I was acting, dancing, and singing in stage shows for years at that park.”

The rigor of doing show after show after show every day for the crowds boosted his confidence immensely, so much so that he counts it among the most important formative steps in launching his musical career—along with a little soul-searching.

“Performing at Great America, being in bands, traveling the world, and learning to love myself were the most important steps in becoming who I am today,” he says.

Once he realized what an outlet it could be, music became his passion. “I knew that the only way I could express emotion was to write it down. I started playing the piano at the same time as I got the Paramount gig,” he says. “I just took to it naturally, like the the sound was part of my mental makeup. It was the way to marry the feeling of music with the depth of words that I had kept internal.”

He made his first real impact on the music industry with his single “Ribcage” off his 2010 debut album, The Invention of Love. The video probably had even more of an impact, both metaphorically and practically, with its sly equation of boxing with affairs of the heart—both delivering their blows to the body part of the title.

His latest single, however, shows how he’s evolved both musically and lyrically on his second release, the EP A History of Heroes. Heavily infused with dubstep, “Mr. Soldier Man” expands on his effort to bring meaning to dance music, digging into the definition of masculinity.