Rest In Peace Freddy Fender

I just wanted to say something about Freddy Fender who the music world lost a couple of days ago. I told before on this blog how I heard much of my first country music from a juke box that blared away at the fishing lake that was across the street from the house where I grew up. I heard many of the country artists of the day from that very loud juke box. One of those I heard was Freddy Fender. He was a huge hit in the early 70’s with songs like “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” “Vaya Con Dios” and his biggest hit “Before the Next Teardrop Falls.” His real name was Baldermar Huerta and he was born on June 4, 1937. His early years were spent traveling with his family in the southwest as a migrant farmworker. He started singing and playing the guitar when he was 10 and imitated the country stars that he heard on the radio. In his teen years he played local dances and when in the Marines he played at the USO. When he got out of the service he formed a band and played the local clubs and bars. Music was the main constant in his life. He could have decided to give up on music after having some fights at the clubs resulted in a broken nose, a knife wound in the neck and a five year jail term when police found marijuana seeds at his house. He only served 3 years of his term but it nearly set him on another path. He went to college to study sociology so he could work with ex-cons and juveniles. He said he figured that since he had been to prison that “…nobody was in a better position than me to do it. And I was working days as a mechanic.” However, all that changed in 1971 when he cut some songs for the Crazy Cajun and the Starflite labels. It was on Crazy Cajun that he recorded “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” and it did so well locally that it caught the attention of Dot Records. They picked it up for national release. Dot was owned by ABC and on the ABC/Dot label the song went to #1 on the Billboard charts on May 31,1975. He followed up with “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” that went to #8. “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” was also previously recorded on a smaller label by Freddy in the 1950’s. 1975 was a very good year for Mr. Fender. He was a major guest star on many TV shows like the Tonight Show and other variety shows. He had many country and pop hits. Sadly we must say to him the title to one of his songs as he departs this world. “Vaya Con Dios” Freddy Fender.