jMVC Rating: Fender 4.0/$$; Feliciano 4.0/$$
ALBUMS: Feliciano! (1968); Freddy Fender, The Story of an Overnight Sensation (1978)
No, I didn’t put these two together because they both speak Spanish. Jose Feliciano is from Puerto Rico. Fender is a Texan of Mexican heritage.
I’m looking to double up on occasion and these guys happened to be in the alphabetical line-up, side-by-side.
Feliciano
One of my all time favorite singing performances is Marvin Gay,e’s rendition of the National Anthem at an NBA all-star game in 1982. Gaye turned the Star Spangled banner inside out with beautiful singing a light beat and left it folded properly like a flag. It was greeted with strong strong feelings on both sides, fans either loved it or hated it
That was kind of a barrier breaker leading to more stylistic interpretations of the song, the vast majority in a loving way (Roseanne Barr being the most memorable exception.)
Gaye was lambasted in some quarters for defaming the National Anthem.
And before Gaye there was Feliciano with his Latin tingd version filled with Spanish guitar flurriesl at tje 1968. World Series. He was riding high on his big selling Feliciano! record, an album of acoustic covers of popular songs, with probably the Doors’ ‘Light My Fire’ being his biggest hit.
The New York Times, looking back at that performance wrote:
“In an era when pop stars try lots of different styles with the anthem, it’s hard to fathom that Feliciano, the blind Puerto Rican singer and guitarist known for “Feliz Navidad” at Christmastime, could stir anger with his rendition.
And at a time when the nation is sharply divided over athletes’ body language during the anthem, it is a reminder that the song that has an unusual ability to provoke.”
On his other songs, Feliciano enjoyed international fame. ‘Light my Fire’ is a good example of his style, bluesy Spanish music,, with jazz-like singing. To many strings, though.
Freddy Fender
Fender’s album title is an ironic play on the fact that one o f his biggest hits, ‘Wasted Days and Wasted Nights’ was recorded and published in 1959 but didn’t become a hit until the 1970s. Between those time periods Fender battled the bottle while in the Marines, and was arrested for pot possession in Louisiana. He served three years in prison for that.
He is also known for ”Before the Next Teardrop Falls’ which is not on this album. The album is fun though as re-listening to the ‘King of Tex-Mex.’ a golden country voice, proves. His producer described his voice as being very honest like Hank Williams.
After his solo success, Fender joined the Texas Tornadoes, which I have on CD and highly recommend. One TT album won a Grammy. in 1991 Fender described the group to the Chicago Tribune : “You’ve heard of New Kids on the Block? Well, we’re the Old Guys in the Street.”