ShareThisBy CASSANDRA HINOJOSA
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Grammy Award-winning musician Freddy Fender, who was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this year and returned to his Corpus Christi, Texas, home for hospice care last week, died Saturday.
Fender, 69, who topped the Billboard charts in the '60s, '70s and '80s with singles that included "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" and "Before The Next Teardrop Falls," was surrounded by family when he died.
"Since last year, Freddy got closer to the Lord than ever," said longtime friend Ruben Rivera, who visited Fender's family Saturday. "He always spoke about the Lord."
Fender's career _ one of successes, mixed with hardships _ has left a legacy in music and beyond that won't soon be forgotten.
He received three Grammy Awards as a solo artist and with the Texas Tornados and Los Super Seven, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999 and he appeared in films including "The Milagro Beanfield War," directed by Robert Redford.
Fender was born Baldemar Huerta on June 4, 1937, in San Benito, Texas, to a family of migrant laborers.
After he served in the Marines, Fender began his music career in the late '50s performing as El Be-Bop Kid, Eddie Medina and Scotty Wayne before taking on the moniker Freddy Fender.
In 1960, the same year he first recorded "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights," he was sent to prison in Louisiana for three years for marijuana possession. He also had abused alcohol.
He came back with two No. 1 hits in the mid-'70s with "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" and the re-released "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights."
In June, Fender, who was a diabetic and had Hepatitis C, learned he had incurable cancer, tumors on his lungs that spread to his brain and other parts of his body.
Fender already had come back from serious health problems, receiving a kidney from his daughter Marla Garcia in 2002 and a liver transplant two years later.
"When you are young, you can hack a lot of stuff, but when you get older, your body can't take too much," said Fender's youngest brother, Mel Fender, the day before his brother's death.
Those close to Fender said the outgoing singer-songwriter they knew as "Balde" never lost touch with his roots. Despite his fame, he made people feel at ease, was easy to talk to and had an upbeat sense of humor _ even when he was ill. He also was fond of motorcycles, old cars and loved to cook and prepare migas for breakfast.
Bill Glass, who runs Fender's Web site, learned of Fender's other loves the first time they met: Fender took Glass into his garage to see his motorcycles.
Rogers recalled Fender's love for home-cooked meals and their searches for good Mexican restaurants.
"In and around the Valley, we would look for a little hometown kind of place with lots of cars outside," said Rogers, chairman of the future Freddy Fender Museum in San Benito.
"Even though Freddy was known throughout the world, he was still Baldemar Huerta from San Benito, and he still loved his roots," Rogers said. "I think that's why he connected with so many people. He wasn't pretentious.
Fender's last show was New Year's Eve in Los Angeles. All his bookings afterward were canceled because of his illness.
"There will never be another Freddy Fender," said Augie Meyers, a former Texas Tornado who had known Fender since 1958 and played with him on his last gig. "I love the guy. He's got a voice that nobody else has."
(Contact Cassandra Hinojosa at hinojosac(at) caller.com)
