On the heels of the success brought to Johnny Rodriguez, the first famous hispanic classic country singer, Freddy Fender emerged on the country music scene out of San Benito, Texas during in the 1970s.
Fender had spent some time on the Angola prison farm, three years in fact, for possession of marijuana when then-governor Jimmie Davis (also a singer-songwriter) had Freddy released, so long as he kept his act clean.
Like Rodriguez, Fender drew many hispanics into the country music scene with not only a golden voice, but a mixture of choruses sung in both English and Spanish. “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” was his first big hit, but amidst the turmoil in his personal life it wasn’t quite the chart topper he had always hoped for.
“Before The Next Teardrop Falls” became just that very hit, back in 1974, when it reached number one on Billboard’s Country and Pop music charts.
Fender would of course go on to form the Texas Tornados in the 1980s, which fused country, blues, R&B and Tejano together seamlessly and won the singer more critical acclaim to go along with the hits from his solo career.
Watch as Freddy Fender sings “Before The Next Teardrop Falls”
