Freddy Fender, 'giant of Texas music,' dies at 69

Baldemar Huerta made a career of reinvention. As Freddy Fender, he became a pioneering Hispanic pop and country star. Fender died of lung cancer on Saturday at his home in Corpus Christi at age 69.

Thirty years have passed since the San Benito-born Fender last had a charting pop hit, but a pair of 1970s singles — Before the Next Teardrop Falls and Wasted Days and Wasted Nights — cemented his legacy. They were sad-eyed countrypolitan classics, delivered in a beautiful, almost androgynous voice that Fender maintained long after pop and country radio quit caring about his music.

"He was a giant of Texas music," said ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, who first crossed paths with Fender in the Rio Grande Valley in the '60s, years before either of their careers would take off. "That strange blend of rock 'n' roll, R&B, blues and barrio sounds unlike any other," he said.

Fender's success didn't come early or easily. He was born poor in the Rio Grande Valley, the child of migrant workers. His early musical exposure was Tejano and conjunto, and as a child he also developed an affinity for the blues.

His musical aspirations would wait until he finished a teenage hitch with the Marines.

By the late 1950s, he was recording and performing Spanish covers of songs by Elvis Presley and Harry Belafonte. The peppy sound earned him the nickname "El Bebop Kid." During this time, he met a number of musicians, such as Augie Meyers, who would become lifelong friends and collaborators.

"He was the Mexican Elvis," Meyers said. "He was original, even then. If anybody surfaces like him again, it will be an imitation."

Changing his name

Still, during that era, his music failed to gain any national traction, so, to court a broader audience, he renamed himself Freddy Fender — the last name taken from his guitar, the former, presumably, was the allure of alliteration.

Fender released Wasted Days and Wasted Nights in 1960. The song generated some regional heat, but his career stalled when he and a bandmate were arrested in Louisiana with a pair of marijuana cigarettes.

Fender was incarcerated in Angola, La., for three years.

By the time he was released — Gov. Jimmie Davis of You Are My Sunshine fame paroled him — Fender's career was shot. He lived, worked and sporadically performed in New Orleans for several years before returning to Texas, where he took a job as a mechanic.

But Fender couldn't quit making music.

A new artist — a sweet-voiced balladeer — was invented when, at the urging of Houston record label head Huey P. Meaux, Fender recorded the bilingual Before the Next Teardop Falls in Houston as a single for Meaux's Crazy Cajun label in 1974.

It reached No. 1 on the pop charts in March 1975. Fender also reached back to an earlier self and dusted off Wasted Days and Wasted Nights, which also broke into the Top 10 that year.

He was a rarity: A Hispanic star in mainstream country music. Even more unlikely was Fender's crossover into pop success. But his music was undeniably melodic and part of a gentler honky-tonk trend.

After the reverb-heavy '60s era of honky-tonk, Nashville in the early '70s warmed to more somber songcraft. Charlie Rich had crossed over two years before Fender with Behind Closed Doors and Most Beautiful Girl in the World, string-laden countrypolitan classics.

'A unique voice'

Fender's crystalline voice was a perfect match for this style of music, as was his diction, which was crisp and emphasized soft consonants in a hypnotizing way.

"It was a unique voice," said accordion legend and friend Flaco Jimenez. "Nobody's going to sound like Freddy Fender again. Ever."

This style of country music would later be bullied out of vogue by rougish outlaws such as Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson (and the boys), but the delicate, vulnerable work of Fender and Rich retains a lush, timeless allure.

Fender churned out two more Top 40 pop hits, (Secret Love and You'll Lose a Good Thing) and remained a prolific recording artist through the '70s.

The '80s were a quiet time for Fender, with little recording of note. But he returned in 1990 with a new act: The Texas Tornados. With Doug Sahm, Meyers and Jimenez, Fender spun uptempo music that found a niche audience. The Tex-Mex group's self-titled debut (it was released in English and Spanish versions) broke the country Top 40, and its follow-up earned a Grammy nomination.

Los Super Seven

The Tornados ran out of wind after four recordings, but Fender wasn't done. In 1998 he found himself part of another supergroup, Los Super Seven.

LS7 included members of Los Lobos, singers Ruben Ramos and Joe Ely and others. The group ran through predominantly traditional Mexican-American music with rock 'n' roll energy. It didn't achieve the success of the Texas Tornados, but it still rekindled interest in Fender's work. At a rare show at New York City's Bowery Ballroom in 1998, Fender sat backstage through much of the early proceedings.

His arrival was treated with the pomp reserved for royalty. He looked the part, too, his big hair perfectly coiffed and sporting a glittering belt buckle that looked the size of a trash can lid.

Shortly after, Fender's health deteriorated.

He was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2000 and required a liver transplant. Diabetes prompted a kidney transplant in 2002. Earlier this year, doctors found multiple tumors on his lungs, a condition that was inoperable.

"I've had a good run," Fender told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. "I cannot complain that I haven't lived long enough, but I'd like to live longer."

Staying optimistic

Despite the bleak prognosis, Fender's optimism rubbed off on friends.

"We're still speechless," said Jimenez. "Months ago, we expected something was wrong, but still it hurts. There's so many memories. ... We were on the road for a long time. That's a lot of things to remember. The good old days having a laugh or two. He was a real friend, a humorous character and a spontaneous musician. We'll miss old Freddy."

Meyers reflected on his popularity.

"When Doug (Sahm) died, a thousand people showed up. I wouldn't be surprised if his service is private. Otherwise, 10,000 people might show."

Fender's final album was a fitting closer. The 2002 recording, La Musica de Baldemar Huerta, was a reverent visit to the Spanish-language music of his youth.

With this Grammy-winning album, Fender returned to his first self. But it included re-recorded versions of Before the Next Teardrop Falls and Secret Love. He seemed to be saying that the many Huertas and Fenders who made music — be it blues, Tejano, pop, country, rock or a mix of them all — each represented him.

Fender will be brought back to San Benito for funeral and memorial services.

andrew.dansby.@chron.com