Freddy Fender (born Baldemar Garza Huerta; 4 June 1937 – 14 October 2006) was an American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados. He is best known for his 1975 hits “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” and the subsequent remake of his own “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights”. (More from Wikipedia)
Frontman Doug Sahm of the Sir Douglas Quintet was a founding member of Texas Tornados (named after one of his songs, “Texas Tornado”) that is a sort of Tejano “super group”. The band included Freddy Fender, who is at least as well known as Sahm due to his hit songs “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” and “Before the Next Teardrop Falls”. Rounding out the group were Augie Meyers, Sahm’s bandmate in the Sir Douglas Quintet; and Flaco Jiménez, an accordion player whose father Santiago Jiménez, Sr. helped pioneer another type of Hispanic music, conjunto. Their 1990 self-titled debut album, Texas Tornados was released in both English and Spanish language versions.
(April 2013)
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“La Bamba” has been covered numerous times over the years; another Hispanic star, Trini Lopez had a 1966 hit with a more mellow version of the song, while Freddy Fender got on the charts with a Tex-Mex treatment. Folk artists like the Kingston Trio, Joan Baez and Harry Belafonte (among others) have also recorded the song. In one of their early sessions together, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards played “La Bamba” in 1961; ironically, they were both 17 years old, the same age as Ritchie Valens when he perished on the airplane crash. The tape of this rare recording brought $81,000.
(June 2013/1)
