Freddy Fender 1937-2006

Freddy Fender died Saturday at the age of 69 at his home in Corpus Christi, Texas. He was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer early in 2006, and was reported to be in failing health as of Friday Oct. 13th.

Fender had battled drug and alcohol abuse, and had his family at his bedside at the time of his death, according to Ron Rogers, a family spokesman. He also dealt with diabetes...which included having to have a kidney transplant.

The singer was born in 1937 in San Benito, Texas and was the son of migrant workers. He made it to the big time in 1975 thanks to the release of his hit single "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," which reached number one on both the pop and country music charts.

Fender also had number one singles with "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights," "Secret Love" and "You'll Lose a Good Thing." The best part of his career was the Texas Tornados. I had the pleasure of seeing them play live sometime in the 90's and no one in the audience could keep still. There's something so appealing about the mix of Tex Mex, Tejano and good ol' rock and roll.

Fender took home a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album in 2002 for his album "La Musica de Baldemar Huerta," and shared two Grammys with the Texas Tornados and with Los Super Seven. The singer was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in February, 1999.

"Texas has been blessed with a handful of singular voices that define the sound of our state and the pinnacle of artistic expression," Casey Monahan, director of the Texas Music Office in Austin and a former music critic, told the Dallas Morning News in 1997.

In 2001, Fender received a Grammy Award for best Latin pop album for "La Musica de Baldemar Huerta." He also shared two other Grammys for best Mexican American performance in 1990 with the Texas Tornados and in 1998 with another group of Latin all-stars, Los Super Seven.

Source: Associated Press

Related Tags: Music, Tex Mex, Tejano, Freddy Fender, CybersMusic

Posted By: Mike