Baldemar (Huerta) Fender (1937 - 2006)

Born 4 Jun 1937 in San Benito, Cameron, Texas, United States

Ancestors

Died 14 Oct 2006 at age 69 in Corpus Christi, Nueces, Texas, United States

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Biography

Freddy (Huerta) Fender is Notable.

Freddy Fender was a Tejano singer-songwriter from South Texas whose style fused country, rock, swamp pop, and Tex-Mex.

Baldemar Huerta was born in San Benito, Texas on 4 June 1937 to Serapio Huerta and Margarita Garza. He was the oldest of 5 known children. "El Bebop Kid" showed musical promise from a young age. San Benito is the birthplace of conjunto music, and Baldemar grew up listening to various Mexican, American, and Tex-Mex music styles. His parents were migrant workers, so he was also exposed to the blues sung by the Black farm laborers he worked alongside in the fields.^[1]

After serving in the Marines, he recorded Spanish versions of Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" and Harry Belafonte's "Jamaica Farewell," which did well in Mexico and South America. When he signed with Imperial Records in 1959, he renamed himself Fender after his guitar and chose "Freddy" to go with it because it sounded good. His big successes came with the release of "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" in 1975, and he received numerous accolades over the next 30 years. In addition to his solo career, he also saw success with two groups, the Texas Tornados and Los Super Seven, both of which won Grammy Awards.^[2]

Freddy struggled with health issues towards the end of his life. He received a kidney transplant from his daughter in 2001 and had a liver transplant in 2004. He died of lung cancer on 14 October 2006 and is buried at San Benito Memorial Park Cemetery.^[3][4]

Sources

• FamilySearch ID: L1YM-CN3

1. ↑ Philadelphia Inquirer, The () , obit for Freddy Fender, 69, country chart-topper, GenealogyBank.com (https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/obituaries/obit/114D1256748FB810 : accessed 15 August 2023)
2. ↑ Wikipedia: Freddy_Fender
3. ↑ "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VSSJ-36F : 12 January 2021), Baldemar G Huerta, 14 Oct 2006; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
4. ↑ Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 11 February 2020), memorial page for Freddy Fender (4 Jun 1937–14 Oct 2006), Find A Grave: Memorial #16174412, citing San Benito Memorial Park Cemetery, Cameron County, Texas, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave.

See also:

• Before the Next Teardrop Falls
  
• Wasted Days & Wasted Nights
  
• Texas Tornados: Hey Baby (Que Paso)