He made film appearances in Robert Redford’s “The Milagro Beanfield War” and played the role of Pancho Villa in 1979’s “She Came To The Valley.” She met him for the first time as a young child.įreddy Fender would partner with a longtime admirer, the great Doug Sahm, to form the supergroup the Texas Tornados. During that time behind bars, Tammy was born. He would eventually get a pardon and early release from the governor, who loved Freddy’s music. His career was put on hold because of an arrest for possession of marijuana and a stint in a Louisiana prison. His career began in the 1950s, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that Huerta, known as Freddy Fender, started earning number one records. So he learned not only to pick cotton but he learned to pick the guitar.”Īfter his time in the Marines, Fender performed under the name the Bebop Kid. “He started joining the talent contests and he would win a lot. “He only went to the ninth grade, as a child migrant worker, because his father passed away,” she says. She says her father was the oldest of his siblings and he wasn’t able to finish high school. “Ritchie Valens was maybe the most successful, but I just wanted to give Freddy what he deserved.” “Something lit up the fire in me that I wanted to give my father these accolades and show people with documentation that he was actually the first to sing Spanish rock and roll,” Tammy Fender says. The title of the book borrows from the name of a song a lot of Americans of a certain age can sing by heart – “ Wasted Days and Wasted Nights.” Twelve years after his death from lung cancer, his daughter, Tammy Fender, has published the first of two biographies about her father. “I never gave up and learned recently from Freddy Fender’s brother Jose Luis Mendez that Freddy was also that way he never wanted to never give up music,” said Marvell.Baldemar Huerta, known as Freddy Fender, was in his day, a Mexican-American Elvis. Marvell plans to continue recording music, something that he thinks Fender would have admired. “It would be awesome to get some kind of tribute for Freddy and then donate all proceeds to the Freddy Fender museum there in San Benito,” he added. In addition to having possible upcoming projects with artists such as Country Lou Watson, Marvel said a tribute concert to Fender in the Valley would be a dream come true for him. “I love the Valley, it’s an absolutely beautiful place,” said Marvel. In all his success, Marvel has not forgotten the Valley, which he and his wife visit quite often. I stuck with it, kept at it the last 40 years and I am so happy to be in a position to get Flower of my Life out,” said Marvel. “A lot of people after a few years of not really hitting it big, they drop the music thing. “He was my hero! Here I am, a Spanish speaking country artist and he was the first to break the ice with that style… he gave me the motivation to do it and keep at it,” said Marvell.Īfter years of flying under the radar, Marvell has managed to put himself back on the map musically as he was just named entertainer of the year by DJ Jerry Mac of Country Music Planet. Their biggest single was the classic “Love Can Make You Happy” which topped out at number 2 in the Billboard charts, second only to The Beatles’ “Get Back.” Still, Marvel cites Fender as not only an inspiration, but a trailblazing icon who he continues to look up to. Back in the 60s’, he was part of the Warner Brothers’ group Mercy. While Marvell is thrilled to see the song finally gaining some positive recognition, he is far from a stranger to national success. Well, not only has the newly recorded song gained positive radio play over the last few months, it has officially cracked the top 25 on the Indie World Country Record Charts, coming in at number 22 this week. “It was a song that I wrote along with my band mate Buddy Good and if it was good enough that Freddy Fender liked it and wanted to record it, I thought it just had to be done,” said Marvell. Well, after four decades, Marvell decided the song had to get out someway and took it upon himself to record it and get it out to the public. “For some reason or another his management told him it just wasn’t a good idea at the time,” he added. “When he heard the song, he genuinely liked it and really wanted to record it,” said Marvell. James Marvell and Buddy Good wrote a song called “Flower Of My Life” about 40 years ago with the intention of having Fender record it, something that unfortunately never got to happen. According to a friend and fellow Hispanic country music star, however, there was one song that Fender never got to record that could have been another hit single. Staff Wasted Days and Wasted Nights to Before the Next Teardrop falls, San Benito legend Freddy Fender had his fair share of top hits on his way to a Hall of Fame career.
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