Freddy Fender Has Cancer

James Joyner @ Gone Hollywood | Friday, August 4, 2006

Freddy Fender has inoperable lung cancer.

Country music star Freddy Fender has inoperable cancer and is “hoping for a miracle,” according to his wife and manager, Vangie Huerta. The Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported Wednesday that Fender, a three-time Grammy winner, was told by doctors in June that he had multiple tumors on his lungs.

“I feel very comfortable in my life,” the Texas-based singer told the paper. “I’m one year away from 70 and I’ve had a good run.” He added, “I really believe I’m okay. In my mind and in my heart, I feel okay. 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 had hits with his songs “Before The Next Teardrop Falls,” “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” and “You’ll Lose A Good Thing.” He won his most recent Grammy in 2002, a best Latin pop award for his album La Musica de Baldemar Huerta.

A shame. Fender has had a long career but was especially hot for a couple years in the mid 1970s. As his own website puts it:

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 the Number One spot on Billboard’s pop and county charts, the first time in history an artist’s first single reached Number One on both charts. His remake of [his 1960 pop hit] “Wasted Days And Wasted Nights,” essentially the same arrangement that had been considered rock and roll the first time around, followed “Teardrop. . ” to Number One on the country charts, and his third release, “Secret Love,” and fourth release “You’ll Lose A Good Thing” also hit the top spot. The album went multi-platinum. Billboard named him Best Male Artist of 1975, and he won both single and album-of the-year honors from The Gavin Report.

He largely disappeared from the hit parade after that, although he had a respectable career as part of the Texas Tornadoes in the 1990s.