By March, it was #1 on the Billboard Country chart, and then #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May, making it the first Tejano song to ever achieve both distinctions. The single was released in January of 1975, and practically shot straight to the moon out of nowhere. Meaux re-established contact with Freddy Fender in the early 70’s, and in 1974, asked him to overdub some bilingual vocals on a Country song that had already been recorded by several different artists to only limited success, called “Before the Next Teardrop Falls.” He simply asked Freddy to sing the first verse in English and the second verse in Spanish, which were added to a previously recorded Conjunto-style Tejano instrumental accompaniment. Upon his release, he returned to Texas and seemingly gave up the dream of music while working as a mechanic and attending community college in the late 60’s. Freddy Fender wrote and recorded “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” in 1959, which became a local Rock ‘n Roll hit, but he was unfortunately sent to prison in Baton Rouge for possession in 1960, and that seriously derailed his career trajectory. Meaux, and released several songs on various labels. Freddy Fender spent a significant amount of time developing his guitar skills and vocal style by hanging out in southwestern Louisiana and learning a new style of music that would eventually be known as Swamp Rock. At the time, he had been recently discharged from the Marines, and made some local recordings with moderate success mostly among Latino fans. ![]() Freddy Fender was the Elvis of Tejano music, and he deserves much more recognition than he ever gets.īorn in San Benito, Texas in 1937 as Baldemar Huerta, he took the name Freddy Fender in 1958 as his fledgling career in the Texas bar circuit began to rise. Marines, and successfully merged Tejano music with Country music in the 1970’s. Freddy Fender? You mean that Mexican fella? No, I mean the Southern musical pioneer from Texas who served in the U.S.
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