
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 2, 1990                   TAG: 9006010183
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RADFORD                                 LENGTH: Medium

FREDDY FENDER APPEARS TONIGHT IN RADFORD

Freddy Fender has had two successful careers already - as an pop star in the late '50s and a country-pop star in the '70s. Now, with his featured role in "The Milagro Beanfield War," he's having a third career an an actor.

He'll return to music when he plays at Sackett's with the Texas Tornado Band tonight.

Fender's career has been highlighted by the pop success of "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" and "Before the Next Teardrop Falls."

He was born Baldemar Huerta in San Benito, Texas. He grew up in a barrio, which he said was not a ghetto, but a poor Hispanic neighborhood.

The first music he played was Tex-Mex. He learned by watching and listening at weddings and other barrio events.

In 1947, he made his first appearance at the age of 10 on radio, singing a current hit, "Paloma Querida," in Harlingen, Texas. Another performance of "Paloma Querida" won him a tub of food worth $10.

At this time, Fender was getting a first-hand education in the blues. His parents were migrant workers and he traveled with them during the picking season.

Many of his fellow workers were black, and some of them were good enough musicians to have been professionals, Fender says. The blues he heard in the fields would become part of his unique style.

At 16, he joined the Marines. After three years he was discharged and played Texas honky-tonks and dance halls.

"Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" became a national hit, but it also proved to be prophetic for Fender. Early stardom was lost in 1960 when he and his bass player were arrested for possession of two marijuana cigarettes. Two years later, Fender went to New Orleans.

By 1969, Fender had returned home to the Rio Grande Valley and worked full time as a mechanic, playing music only on weekends and studying at Del Mar College.

In 1974, he cut "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" in Houston. The master was bought by ABC-Dot, and on April 8, 1975, it reached No. 1 Billboard's pop and country charts.

With success came a serious problem with drugs and alcohol. By 1984, his problem had become life-or-death. In 1985 Fender sought treatment from a chemical dependency in Corpus Christi, Texas. He has since shed his problems and has been rebuilding his career.

by CNB