Freddy Fender

[rostasi]

Fender

Freddy Fender has incurable cancer

Thu Aug 3, 12:16 PM ET

Musician Freddy Fender has incurable cancer, discovered after tumors were found on his lungs, and his wife said they are "hoping for a miracle."

"I feel very comfortable in my life," Fender told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times for a story published Wednesday. "I'm one year away from 70 and I've had a good run. I really believe I'm OK. In my mind and in my heart, I feel OK. I cannot complain that I haven't lived long enough, but I'd like to live longer."

Fender started his career in the late 1950s and hit the charts with "Before The Next Teardrop Falls," "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" and "You'll Lose A Good Thing." He has won three Grammy Awards, the most recent in 2002.

He was to have surgery in early January to remove the upper left lobe of his lung because of a fungal infection, but surgeons found two large tumors and left the lobe intact.

Fender underwent chemotherapy in late January but stopped because of its side effects. A scan later found nine more tumors.

He was resting at his home in Corpus Christi, said Vangie Huerta, his wife and manager, adding that she did not ask doctors to estimate how long he might live.

Fender, who has canceled all performances, has decided to resume chemotherapy at a lower dosage.

"We can prolong his life with medication or chemo, but it's not a cure," his wife said.

Fender received a kidney from his daughter in 2002 and a liver transplant in 2004. He has had problems with diabetes and hepatitis C.

___

On the Net:

Freddy Fender: http://www.freddyfender.com/

[Stereojack]

Back around 1990 Freddy joined forces with Doug Sahm, Augie Meyers, & Flaco Jimenez in a "supergroup" called the Texas Tornadoes. As a fan of Sir Doug & Flaco, I went to their gig at Johnny D's, figuring that I could tolerate the "cornball" Freddy Fender, but I came away a fan! The audience (especially the ladies) went nuts for Freddy, and he played them like a violin.

A great showman and a great singer, and what a soulful voice!

[Aggie87]

I mentioned this very same thing in the country music thread yesterday, but it's nice to that Freddy gets his own thread too. I've seen Freddy driving around town here once or twice, in an old '50's era sedan, but a miniature version of one. Too cool!

[catesta]

I had the pleasure of meeting Freddy and sharing beers wirth him some years ago in Phoenix at a festival.

A nice guy for sure.

Most definitely a true stylist as one of the major fources in TEX-MEX.

Fender diagnosed with incurable cancer

Doctors find tumors on singer's lungs

By Cassandra Hinojosa Corpus Christi Caller-Times

August 2, 2006

Grammy award-winning musician Freddy Fender is battling incurable cancer after doctors told him in June he had multiple tumors on his lungs.

Fender, 69, who began his career in the late '50s, topped the Billboard charts throughout the decades with "Before The Next Teardrop Falls," "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights," and "You'll Lose A Good Thing."

Now resting at his Corpus Christi home, Fender hasn't performed since New Year's Eve and all his bookings have been canceled, according to Fender's wife and manager Vangie Huerta.

"Doctors said there wasn't anything they could do for him," said Huerta, who didn't ask doctors how long her husband might live. "We can prolong his life with medication or chemo, but it's not a cure."

Since the start of the year, Fender's health has been a roller coaster ride.

He went in for an operation in early January to remove the upper left lobe of his lung because of a fungal infection called aspergillosis, but the lobe was left intact because two lemon-sized tumors were discovered. Fender is taking antibiotics for the fungal infection.

Fender underwent chemo-therapy in late January, but decided later to stop treatment because of the severe effects on his body.

While a PET scan showed the tumors shrank from the chemotherapy, it also revealed nine smaller tumors in his pleura — membranes covering the lungs and lining the chest cavity.

The couple decided Fender would undergo a lower dosage of chemotherapy once every three weeks at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center in San Antonio. According to Huerta, other alternatives presented by doctors were taking medication or letting the cancer take its course.On Sept. 27, Fender will go to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America at Southwestern Regional Medical Center in Tulsa, Okla., to discuss his options.

Huerta said the 5-foot-10 entertainer’s weight has dropped from 170 to 145 pounds.

"The chemo is hard, but Freddy is taking it," said Huerta, who gets tears in her eyes when she talks about her husband’s condition. "We’re hoping for a miracle. We’ve just gotten very spiritual."

Fender, who in 2002 received a kidney transplant from his daughter Marla Garcia and a liver transplant in 2004, isn’t ready to give up the fight.

"I woke up this morning and I’m ahead of the pack — to my surprise," joked Fender. "I feel OK. I feel all right, but I’m on chemo, so I get side effects. I’m getting ready for my third treatment for the second time."

Fender hasn’t lost his sense of humor either, saying that with his hair, still short from earlier chemotherapy, and a full mustache, he looks more like Santa Claus.

He’s practicing his singing at home and says his voice sounds as good as ever. One of these days, he said he hopes to get back on the road for more shows.

"I feel very comfortable in my life," said Fender, who prays daily. "I’m one year away from 70 and I’ve had a good run. I really believe I’m OK. In my mind and in my heart, I feel OK. I cannot complain that I haven’t lived long enough, but I’d like to live longer."

The Corpus Christi Caller Times published this as a front page story , August 2, 2006.

[rostasi]

[catesta]

[paul secor]

Keep hangin' in, Freddie.

[Aggie87]

Our local television channels are running notices that Freddy Fender has just passed away.

Rest in Peace, Freddy.

[Aggie87]

Singer Freddy Fender dies at age 69 after battle with lung cancer

By Associated Press

October 14, 2006

CORPUS CHRISTI — Freddy Fender, the "Bebop Kid" of the Texas-Mexico border who later turned his twangy tenor into the smash country ballad "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," died Saturday. He was 69.

Fender, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in early 2006, died at noon at his Corpus Christi home with his family at his bedside, said Ron Rogers, a family spokesman.

Over the years, he grappled with drug and alcohol abuse, was treated for diabetes and underwent a kidney transplant.

Fender hit it big in 1975 after some regional success, years of struggling — and a stint in prison — when "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" climbed to No. 1 on the pop and country charts.

"Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" rose to No. 1 on the country chart and top 10 on the pop chart that same year, while "Secret Love" and "You’ll Lose a Good Thing" also hit No. 1 in the country charts.

Born Baldemar Huerta, Fender was proud of his Mexican-American heritage and frequently sung verses or whole songs in Spanish. "Teardrop" had a verse in Spanish.

"Whenever I run into prejudice," he told The Washington Post in 1977, "I smile and feel sorry for them, and I say to myself, ‘There’s one more argument for birth control.’"

"The Old Man upstairs rolled a seven on me," he told The Associated Press in 1975. "I hope he keeps it up."

More recently, he played with Doug Sahm, Flaco Jimenez and others in two Tex-Mex all-star combos, the Texas Tornados and Los Super Seven.

He won a Grammy of Best Latin Pop Album in 2002 for "La Musica de Baldemar Huerta." He also shared in two Grammys: with the Texas Tornados, which won in 1990 for best Mexican-American performance for "Soy de San Luis," and with Los Super Seven in the same category in 1998 for "Los Super Seven."

Among his other achievements, Fender appeared in the 1987 motion picture "The Milagro Beanfield War," directed by Robert Redford.

In February 1999, Fender was awarded a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame after then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush wrote to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce endorsing him.

He said in a 2004 interview with The Associated Press that one thing would make his musical career complete — induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.

"Hopefully I’ll be the first Mexican-American going into Hillbilly Heaven," he said.

Fender was born in 1937 in San Benito, the South Texas border town credited for spawning the Mexican-polka sound of conjunto. The son of migrant workers who did his own share of picking crops, he also was exposed to the blues sung by blacks alongside the Mexicans in the fields.

Always a performer, he sang on the radio as a boy and won contests for his singing — one prize included a tub full of about $10 worth of food.

But his career really began in the late '50s, when he returned from serving in the Marines and recorded Spanish-language versions of Elvis Presley’s "Don’t Be Cruel" and Harry Belafonte’s "Jamaica Farewell." The recordings were hits in Mexico and South America.

He signed with Imperial Records in 1959, renaming himself "Fender" after the brand of his electric guitar, "Freddy" because it sounded good with Fender.

Fender initially recorded "Wasted Days" in 1960. But his career was put on hold shortly after that when he and his bass player ended up spending almost three years in prison in Angola, La., for marijuana possession.

After prison came a few years in New Orleans and a then an everyday life taking college classes, working as a mechanic and playing an occasional local gig. He once said he sang in bars so dingy he performed with his eyes shut "dreaming I was on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show.’"

"I felt there’s no great American dream for this ex-Chicano migrant farm worker," he told the AP. "I’d picked too many crops and too many strings."

But his second break came when he was persuaded to record "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" on an independent label in 1974 and it was picked up by a major label. With its success, he won the Academy of Country Music’s best new artist award in 1975. He re-released "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" and it climbed to the top of the charts as well.

Cristina Balli, spokeswoman for the Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center in San Benito, said Fender illustrated the diversity of Mexican-American and Latino musicians.

"We have our feet in different worlds and different cultures," she said. "We have our roots music ... but then we branch out to other things, pick up different styles. I think he was the precursor to Los Lonely Boys."

Fender’s later years were marred by health problems resulting in a kidney transplant from his daughter, Marla Huerta Garcia, in January 2002 and a liver transplant in 2004. Fender was to have lung surgery in early 2006 until surgeons found tumors.

"I feel very comfortable in my life," Fender told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times in August. "I’m one year away from 70 and I’ve had a good run. I really believe I’m OK. In my mind and in my heart, I feel OK. I cannot complain that I haven’t lived long enough, but I’d like to live longer."

Rogers said Fender will be brought back to San Benito for a funeral and memorial services. Details on the arrangements were pending.

[chris olivarez]

RIP Freddy.

[paul secor]

RIP Freddy. You'll be missed.

Edited October 14, 2006 by paul secor

[Aggie87]

Bump...

I got to meet Augie Meyers and Johnny Rodriguez today, while they were doing some PR for an upcoming tribute concert for Freddy Fender. I had wanted to talk to Augie a bit about the Sir Douglas Quintet, Dylan, and the TX Tornados (though I'm sure he's bored with the caliber of questions I would've asked), but there were too many folks around to get any of his time.

The show's going to be on 30 Dec here, and features Augie, Johnny, Flaco Jimenez, Charlie Rich Jr, Little Joe Y La Familia, Ruben Ramos, Emilio Navaira, and Clay Walker. Would be cool to see Augie & Flaco play together and do some of the Tornados stuff!

Edited December 17, 2007 by Aggie87