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Professionally, Danny Flores was a man of few words. Actually, he's best
known for just this one: "Tequila!"
That
was the sole lyric sung/shouted by Flores on the No. 1 hit single of the
same name, and it was a song that Flores never got tired of playing or
listening to throughout his life.
Flores died of pneumonia Tuesday morning at Huntington Beach Hospital. He
was 77.
Born
in Santa Paula, Flores was a young teen when his family moved to Long
Beach in the '40s. His musical career had already included gigs as the
guitarist in church when he was 5 and playing Mexican music in a trio at
14.
In
Long Beach, he formed a band called the 3-D Ranch Boys and embarked upon
his lifelong career as a musician, playing local clubs and bars catering
to a rough blue-collar crowd that bestowed the nickname "The Mexican
Hillbilly" on Flores.
Flores' biggest hit came fairly quickly and through the back door. In
1957, going by the name of Chuck Rio, he formed The Champs, which included
guitarist Dave Burgess and such later-celebrated stand-ins as Seals and
Crofts and Glen Campbell. Burgess wrote a tune for The Champs called
"Train to Nowhere" and the band needed a B side for the single, so they
used an instrumental tune written by Rio/Flores.
Flores didn't have a name for the number, but his bandmates, noting his
affinity for tequila, suggested the title that would stick. Flores' "dirty
sax" and his exuberant hollering of "Tequila!" at regular intervals made
the song an instant hit, while "Train to Nowhere" went pretty much as
advertised.
"Tequila" went to No. 1 in just three weeks and the Champs became the
first instrumental group to go to the top spot with their first release.
The
song went on to win a Grammy in 1959 and Danny Flores went from "Mexican
Hillbilly" to "Godfather of Latino Rock" overnight. And he played the song
at every opportunity for the next 40 years.
Throughout much of the '70s, Flores was all over the local nightclub
scene, playing regular gigs at the Iron Mask in Lakewood and the Village
Inn in the Los Altos area of Long
Beach, by which time he had added a singer, Sharee, who would be his wife
for 33 years until his death.
Although the couple moved to Westminster, they still performed in and
around Long Beach, and always played "Tequila," usually several times a
night.
"I
can honestly tell you he never got tired of playing that song," says
Sharee from the Flores' home in Westminster.
And
the song never waned in popularity. It's been used in countless TV shows
and in more than 20 feature films, getting a huge bump from its big part
in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure."
"After that, we got shows all over the U.S.," says Sharee. "We played the
Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, the Greek, the Shrine, Caesar's Palace in
Vegas. All these younger people who hadn't heard it were suddenly in love
with the song. Danny was just so proud of it."
The
tragic angle is that Flores didn't make much money from the wildly
profitable song, having (it is argued) signed off the royalty rights in
the 1960s.
Overseas royalties, however, continue to come in, and Sharee, while
determined to carry on the fight to regain the rights to "Tequila," is far
from bitter about the potential millions in losses.
"We
had the best life we could ever hope for," she says, still choked up over
the loss of her husband. "When I met Danny, he made all my dreams come
true. In all our 33 years, we were never apart. I wish you could tell
people how much we loved each other."
Flores is also survived by seven children from previous marriages: Jimmy,
Cynthia, Michael, Sonjia, Ricky, Sheila and Kellye, as well as 15
grandchildren. Services are 1 p.m. today at Forest Lawn in Cypress. |
