No, I'm not a country music fan, but Freddy crossed a lot of genres and influenced a lot of people, from Elvis to Jerry Lee Lewis to Little Richard, the Stones, etc etc. He was a legend in the industry before the word lost its meaning due to hype. R.I.P Freddy Fender.
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[h2 class="vitstoryheadline"][span class="vitstoryheadline"]Tex-Mex superstar Fender dies at 69[/span][/h2] [font size="-1"]
[h5 class="vitstorydate"][span class="vitstorydate"]Web Posted: 10/15/2006 12:22 AM CDT[/span][/h5][/font][font size="-1"]
[span class="vitstorybyline"]Ramiro Burr - Express-News Staff
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Freddy Fender, whose No. 1 country crossover hit "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" and collaborations with the Texas Tornados and Los Super Seven made him a Tex-Mex superstar, died Saturday.
Fender, 69, was at his home in Corpus Christi when he died, said Ron Rogers, a family spokesman.
The singer had been undergoing treatment in Oklahoma for cancer but earlier this month was flown to San Antonio's University Hospital suffering from a blood infection. He had returned home Thursday.
In a career spanning five decades, Fender was one of the few artists able to successfully hopscotch among several genres, going from early rock 'n' roll to Tejano to country to Texas roots music.
Like Johnny Rodriguez, Fender also was a rare Mexican-American crossover success story.
Hours after his death, fellow performers and music industry officials lauded Fender for breaking out of South Texas and scaling the heights.
"His bilingual lyrics ... really broke ground in terms of acceptance for Tejano music and for the Tejano people in general," said Juan Tejeda, founder of the Tejano Conjunto Festival.
Flaco Jimenez recalled spending a day in May 2005 with Fender recording the "Dos Amigos" CD at the North Side studio of Michael Morales.
"It was fun because we were free to do whatever and we just let the tape roll nonstop," Jimenez said.
Jimenez, who performed with Doug Sahm, Augie Meyers and Fender as the Texas Tornados, added: "The whole world who saw Freddy perform knows that we have lost a big star."
Morales, who produced "Dos Amigos" with his brother Ron Morales, said it was the first time Fender and Jimenez recorded a duet.
"They're the Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger of Tejano. They're Tex-Mex royalty and they'd never before done a duet," Morales said. "It was a long day but it was a blast."
Tejas Records owner Chris Lieck noted that Fender's impact was underrated. "His accomplishments are not really even that acknowledged and should be. There are few Tex-Mex crossover artists that have any bragging rights," he said.
Despite Fender's accomplishments, Chris Strachwitz, record producer and founder of Arhoolie Records, and whose label still issues some of Fender's early records, recalled Fender as "just a sweet guy with a wonderful talent. I'm glad I called him a few weeks ago and I was surprised that he sounded very cheerful.
"But he'll be remembered as an important figure who started in the Mexican music field where it is hard to get out of, and was lucky enough to later record those hits."
Kevin Russell, leader of the Austin-based roots music band the Gourds, said Fender stands "at the top of the Texas pantheon of singers."
"I've always been afraid to sing a Freddy Fender song. It's not something you think you could do," Russell said as he and his band prepared to perform at the International Accordion Festival at La Villita.
Fender was born Baldemar Huerta on June 4, 1937, in San Benito to Serapio and Margarita Huerta.
When he was 10, he made his first radio appearance at KGBS-AM in Harlingen, singing "Paloma Querida," which, folklore has it, won a him a tub of food worth about $10. His parents were migrant workers and the young Fender traveled with them on the circuit to Arkansas, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and other points north — wherever there were crops to pick.
The family worked alongside African-Americans, from whom Fender was first influenced by the blues.
From 1954 to 1956, Fender served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was stationed in South Korea.
He began his career recording in the '50s as the "Bebop Kid" singing Elvis Presley and Gene Vincent covers in Spanish, including "Don't Be Cruel" and later Harry Belafonte's "Jamaica Farewell." These and Fender 's other early bilingual rock 'n' roll songs from that period are included in the compilation "Canciones de Mi Barrio," released by Arhoolie Records in the early '90s.
Fender hit his peak in the mid-1970s when he released the landmark album "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights." In March 1975 "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," with both English and Spanish lyrics, hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 and the Top Country Singles charts, making it the most successful bilingual song by a Tex-Mex artist to date. Later in the year, the title track also hit No. 1 on Top Country Singles.
"Freddy Fender reflects the Tex-Mex culture, its music, its cultural uncertainties and its cultural richness," said Seven Rivers president José Rosario. "His name is a sign of the times when it was easier to gain entry into a white-saturated music industry by using English names."
Ramon Filoteo, 61, attending the International Accordion Festival, said Fender remained true to the music of South Texas.
"I remember him from years back when I was a migrant worker. He was too. I remember he grew up in South Texas. He kept on with the music from where he grew up. He kept on with his culture," Filoteo said.
After his mid-1970s boom, Fender recorded a dozen albums with minimal success, but in 1989, his career enjoyed a renaissance when he joined the Texas Tornados, playing the spicy stew of Tex-Mex, country and blues that impeccably reflected his musical roots. With the Tornados' self-titled debut he won his first Grammy in 1990 for best Mexican-American performance. The album produced a country hit with the Tex-Mex rooted "Who Were You Thinkin' Of." He went on to record three more albums with the Tornados, "Zone of Our Own," "Hangin' on by a Thread," and "4 Aces."
In the late '80s, Fender had small roles in a few films, including Robert Redford's "The Milagro Beanfield War."
He played at the inaugural balls for President George Bush in 1989 and President Bill Clinton in 1993.
In 1998, he became part of Los Super Seven, a Mexican-American all-star band, which included Jimenez, Joe Ely, Rick Treviño and Ruben Ramos. The collaboration led to an album by the same name, released on RCA. The CD, which won a Grammy, was a tribute to the musicians' roots and influences, and included their interpretations of Woody Guthrie's "Deportee" and Agustin Lara's "Piensa en Mi."
Fender won his third and last Grammy for his 2002 recording, "La Musica de Baldemar Huerta."
Fender is survived by wife Evangelina "Vangie" and several children.
Funeral arrangements were pending. [/span]
