Freddy Fender El Bebop Kid - En Espanol (part 1) CDCD
This unique collection presents the very best of Freddy Fender's Spanish language recordings between 1957-1961, the first time that this body of work has been thus compiled. Much of this material is notoriously hard to find elsewhere on CD. Long before becoming a Country Crossover superstar, Freddy Fender was a teenage Rock 'n' Roll star in his native Mexico under his real name, Baldemar Huerta. The very first Hispanic rock and roller, nicknamed "El Bebop Kid", he initially sang Spanish language cover versions of contemporaneous American rock 'n' roll hits, before starting to write his own songs. He changed his stage name to "Freddy Fender" in 1959 in order to appeal to the US market - as he famously said, "To sell better with Gringos!" - at which point he began to also sing in English. After being busted in 1960 for a marijuana offence, he was incarcerated in Angola State Prison, Louisiana; whilst inside, he recorded an LP and several 45s as "Eddie Con Los Shades", and further Spanish language recordings as Freddy Fender.
