Fender to be recognized at Tejano/Country awards

By ARABELLA SERRATA
editor@sbnewspaper.com

SAN ANTONIO, TX—Country music icon and San Benito native son, Freddy Fender, will have another posthumous honor bestowed onto him on Aug. 26 when he’ll be recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award during the Tejano/Country Music Awards in the Alamo City.

According to Jesse Torres, CEO of the All-Star Music Awards, and the Texas All-Star Filmmaker Awards, the event marks the inaugural Tejano/Country Music Awards. The Tejano/County Music Awards is slated to be held at the Blue House Bar and Lounge in San Antonio. Tickets are $25 each. For more ticket information, contact Torres at: Jessetorres796@gmail.com.

Freddy Fender was born June 4, 1937, in San Benito. He was born Baldemar Garza Huerta and came from a family of migrant workers. Huerta made his radio debut at age ten on KGBT. He dropped out of high school when he was 16 and served in the U.S. Marine Corps when he was 17. After his discharge, he performed in bars and clubs along South Texas. He saw moderate success with his Spanish covers of popular songs and eventually became known for the Rockabilly genre and would later change his name in 1958 to the iconic Freddy Fender.

Fender found success with his single “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” in 1959. In 1974, Fender recorded “Before the Next Teardrop Falls”. This single would launch him to the top of the Billboard Pop and Country charts, precursor a wildly successful history in Country and Pop.

In 1989, Fender formed a Tex-Mex super group called “Texas Tornados”. Together, they meshed conjunto, Tejano, R&B, country, and blues. After initial production slowed he would go on to form another Super group, this one called “Los Super Seven”. Both groups earned Grammys for their work. Fender was present for the unveiling of the Water Tower located East of U.S. Route 33. He would also be awarded with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

After battling an incurable cancer, Freddy Fender died in Corpus Christi TX, on Oct 14, 2006.

As reported by the NEWS in a March 23, 2023 article, Fender’s first home was recognized with an official historical marker by the Texas Historical Commission after a decade’s long effort spearheaded by the Huerta family and the San Benito Historical society. The home is located within San Benito’s El Jardin neighborhood. But for a number of reasons, the marker sat in storage in Fender’s former Corpus Christi residence.

In collaboration with Fender’s family, the members of the San Benito Historical Society (SBHS) have spearheaded an effort to secure the marker and have organized a dedication and unveiling ceremony held on the morning of Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 143 Freddy Fender Lane in San Benito. The public was invited to attend the free event. The locale is not exactly Fender’s boyhood home, which has since gone into disrepair and has been demolished, but down the street at his first home, acquired when he and his wife, Evangelina “Vangie” Muniz, were newlyweds. The home is also adjacent to his brother’s residence, according to Sandra Tumberlinson, SBHS treasurer.

“The family was awarded the marker 10 years ago, in 2013,” Tumberlinson explained. “(Former State) Senator Eddie Lucio Jr., and (former State) Congressman Rene Oliveira signed off on it, and it was approved; but for 10 years, circumstances didn’t allow them (the family) to (erect or) dedicate the marker.”

“We’re going to place it at the home where they (Freddy and his wife) lived as newlyweds, a very nice brick home, which is right across the Resaca on Freddy Fender Lane, which is next door to his brother’s home, so it’s perfect,” Tumberlinson said.

Tumberlinson noted that event organizers thought that it would be apropos for one of the keynote speakers at the dedication ceremony be former State Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. since he helped the family acquire the marker a decade ago. “I thought it would be a good conclusion to the story,” Tumberlinson remarked.

After the dedication ceremony, the public is invited to visit the Freddy Fender Museum, at the old San Benito Community Building, 210 E. Heywood, to view Fender’s Grammies, Gold Records and a variety of other artifacts representing Fender’s career which spanned over a half century prior to his death, and which is all situated within the museum’s 450 sq. ft. of space. Most of the memorabilia was acquired from the family’s archives. The museum opened its doors in late 2007, according to archival records.

Fender received his gold records that are on display at the museum for “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” and “Before the Next Teardrop Falls”. His blue Harley-Davidson and awards such as “Most Promising Male Vocalist” from the Academy of Country Music, which he received in 1975, are also on display.

Fender, whose birth name is Baldemar Garza Huerta, was born in San Benito on June 4, 1937 and he later attended San Benito schools before dropping out at the age of 16. He then enlisted with the US Marines and subsequently served in the military for three years.

According to his online biography, Fender’s musical career and genre evolved through the years as he reinvented his career — time and again — to incorporate Rock N Roll, country, and country-Tejano into his musical repertoire. He was known for his work as a solo artist as well as in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados. He was best known for his 1975 hits, the aforementioned, “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” and the subsequent remake of his own “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights”.

During an appearance with the Texas Tornados on “Late Night with David Letterman,” on Dec. 18, 1990, the legendary comedy host introduced Fender as, “one of the greatest voices in all of music.” Fender also starred in television shows and movies, mostly playing bit parts such as mayor Sammy Cantu alongside actors Ruben Blades and Christopher Walken in the 1988 critically acclaimed motion picture, “The Milagro Beanfield War” directed by one of Hollywood’s all-time great luminaries, Robert Redford.

Always proud of his San Benito and Mexican-American roots, Fender was quick to correct reporters who attempted to paint El Jardin as a slum, saying it wasn’t a ghetto, but a poor Mexican-American neighborhood with proud, hard-working people. He was also known to specify his native town during live performances. In 1990, Fender performed as part of the Grammy Award-winning super group, the Texas Tornados (Doug Sahm, Freddy Fender, Augie Meyers and Flaco Jimenez) in the acclaimed, nationally televised PBS show, “Austin City Limits” donning a grey, off-the-rack, San Benito Greyhound t-shirt underneath a blue denim vest. The Texas Tornados, incidentally, were also featured in the soundtrack album for the 1996 golfing flick/romantic comedy “Tin Cup” starring Kevin Costner, Rene Russo and Don Johnson.

In recent months, a grassroots movement to have Fender inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, TN. has mustered momentum. Tumberlinson hopes the attention garnered from the historical marker unveiling will keep Fender and the movement in the spotlight.

Tumberlinson said that when the effort to begin a petition to have Fender included in the hall commenced, the SBHS representatives went out to search for the marker and realized it had not been erected and thus the effort began to reach out to the family, specifically Vangie, to locate the marker.

“Freddy, according to many people, including his widow, wanted to help the city. He wanted his name to help San Benito. It’s all he wanted to do was to help his home town. He wanted it to benefit from his legacy, and we have,” Tumberlinson remarked. “We are known across the world as the birthplace of Freddy Fender. We have people coming in from Sweden, from Germany, and say, ‘We love Freddy Fender over there, and we wanted to come see his artifacts,’ so they come here for Freddy Fender. So he is fulfilling his dream and wishes to be a help to San Benito,” Tumberlinson concluded.

According to the petition to have Fender inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, his accolades included, but are not limited to the following: three-time Grammy Award Winner, 24 Billboard Hot Country Songs charted (four of which reached number one), Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) Jukebox Awards for highest earning songs played on a jukebox, Single of the Year at the 1975 Country Music Association Awards. From 1974 to 1983, Fender released a total of 16 albums with a total of 24 songs charting successfully in both Country and Pop, many featuring lyrics in English and Spanish.
To sign the petition, log onto Change.org: https://www.change.org/…/induct-mexican-american-freddy…. Thus far, the petition has generated 13,708 signatures with a goal of 15,000 signature.