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Grammy Award-winning musician Freddy Fender, who topped the Billboard charts in the '60s, '70s and '80s with singles that included "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" and "Before The Next Teardrop Falls," died at noon Saturday at his Corpus Christi home surrounded by family. Fender was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this year and returned to his home for hospice care on Wednesday. He was 69. "Since last year, Freddy got closer to the Lord than ever," said longtime friend Ruben Rivera, who visited Fender's family Saturday. "He always spoke about the Lord." Ron Rogers, a family spokesman, said the family...

Freddy Fender, the "Bebop Kid" of the Texas-Mexico border who later turned his twangy tenor into the smash country ballad "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," died Saturday. He was 69. Fender, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in early 2006, died at noon at his Corpus Christi home with his family at his bedside, said Ron Rogers, a family spokesman. Over the years, he grappled with drug and alcohol abuse, was treated for diabetes and underwent a kidney transplant. Fender hit it big in 1975 after some regional success, years of struggling - and a stint in prison - when...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Grammy Award-winning musician Freddy Fender, who was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this year, was said to be gravely ill at his Corpus Christi, Texas home on Friday. Family members said Fender, 69, a crossover pop, Latin and country performer, was "not doing well" and was unable to speak to reporters. He returned to Corpus Christi this week after receiving treatment in hospitals in Oklahoma and San Antonio, Texas. Doctors discovered tumors in his lungs during surgery in January and recently told him the spreading cancer could not be cured. "I feel very comfortable in my life....

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Musician Freddy Fender has incurable cancer, discovered after tumors were found on his lungs, and his wife said they are "hoping for a miracle." "I feel very comfortable in my life," Fender told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times for a story published Wednesday. "I'm one year away from 70 and I've had a good run. I really believe I'm OK. In my mind and in my heart, I feel OK. 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 hit the charts...

San Benito’s new water tower to commemorate singer-songwriter SAN BENITO — El Be-Bop Kid will be celebrating his 67th birthday in grand style on Saturday. Freddy Fender, one of the city’s claims to fame is scheduled to take part in a ribbon-cutting and lighting ceremony for an elevated water storage tank recently built here. An image of the singer-songwriter is painted on the tower with the inscription, "Hometown of Freddy Fender." The tower is the last of a three-phase $32.4 million project that includes a water treatment plant and a wastewater system improvement project. The San Benito native was born...