THE CHAMPS
The Champs were an American rock and roll band, most famous for their Latin-tinged instrumental “Tequila”. The group took their name from the name of Gene Autry’s horse, Champion. The group was formed to record a B-side for “Train to Nowhere”. The intended throwaway track became more famous than its A-side, as “Tequila” went to No. 1 in just three weeks, and the band became the first group to go to the top spot with an instrumental that was their first release. In 1959, it won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance and sold over one million copies. “Tequila” was written by the saxophone player Danny Flores, although he was credited as Chuck Rio because he was under contract to another record label at the time. (More from Wikipedia)
One of the coolest by the Piltdown Men is “Tequila Bossa Nova”, a redo of the 1958 hit “Tequila” by the Champs with (you guessed it) “Tequila Bossa Nova” replacing “Tequila” as the occasional calls during the mostly instrumental song.
(October 2010)
* * *
In 1960, Glen Campbell moved to Los Angeles to become a session guitarist. At about the same time, Glen Campbell also joined the Champs, which had a Number One hit in 1958 with “Tequila”. The song was written by bandmember and saxophone player Danny Flores, known as the “godfather of Latino rock”.
(February 2015)
