The story of Freddy Fender hitting it big with Before The Next Teardrop Falls in 1974 is one of the great stories in music lore. It seemed to me back then that one minute he was gigging nightly at The Rogues Club in Corpus and literally the next, he was all over the radio and television (Dinah Shore, Midnight Special, Bob Hope, American Bandstand, The Tonight Show, Dean Martin). Anyone familiar with Freddy's music knows he had the talent and the voice, but by the time he hit it big he had been doing it for 20 years already and was about ready to hang it up. After working day gigs and playing on the weekends he started taking vocational classes at Del Mar College. He hooked up with producer Huey Meaux in 1969 and begin a musical collaboration that would eventually turn to gold.
On his debut hit LP on ABC Dot Freddy says a friend told him about Meaux. (Maybe it was Doug Sahm). Meaux recounts in the PBS documentary on latin rock (Latin Music USA) that he was in Corpus and stopped by a car wash to get his car washed and heard someone singing. Recognizing it was Fender, he said "Man what are you doing working here, here's my card... call me"
or something like that, however it happened, Freddy was soon heading down to Sugarland Studios.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/index.html#/en/wat/01/07
Huey Meaux had a lot going in the 60's, recording hits on Barbara Lynn, TK Hulin, Jivin Gene and The jokers, BJ Thomas and conceptually helped to create the South Texas answer to the British Invasion: The Sir Douglas Quintet. Recording hundreds of regional favorites on various labels by cats like Link Davis, Floyd Tillman, and Tommy McLain.. Not to mention all the artists he recorded that didn't hit nationally then but later went on to greater fame such as Mickey Gilley, Ronnie Milsap, Johnny Copeland and Johnny Winter! It's hard to believe it took Freddy and Huey so long to get together.
However it came down, Freddy began recording with Meaux down in Houston at Sugarhill Studios. They recorded several Lps of songs trying to find something to hit. One of my all time favorite Freddy Fender Lp's is on Crazy Cajun and features Freddy singing in Spanish over reggae grooves with Tex-Mex horns wailing! It's also got a funky version of Junko Partner with Huey yelling a dedication from the background to " Malcom Rebbenack, the man with the plan from the git go! Hit it brother...!"
At some point Meaux wanted Freddy to record a song originally recorded by Duane Dee and writen by Ben Peters and Vivian Keith...Before the Next Teardrop Falls. Freddy didn't want to , he felt it was too country. After all he was EL Bebop Kid!Meaux insisted, he said he could see "hit all over it if Freddy sang it. Meaux took the tape of Before The Next Teardrop to Nashville and was rebuffed. He took it back to Houston and released it on Crazy Cajun and took the number one spot on local radio. Nashville was a little more accommodating the next time.
Corpus Gold Note: A good example of how it's not always just the song but the right voice at the right time that makes a hit. Teardrop was recorded not only by Duane Dee, but David Houston, Charlie Pride, Dottie West, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jim Ed Brown and Jack Greene before Freddy recorded it.
The song sung in English and Spanish catapulted Fender to the big time! It along with Wasted Days and Wasted Nights (originally recorded in Corpus in 1959) became his signature song and I am sure he sang it on every show till he left us in 2006.
Huey P Meaux died April 23, 2011. Whatever his faults were, he recorded some of the best music Texas and Louisana had to offer! Adios Crazy Cajun.
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