Soul Strutter: R.I.P. - Freddie Chavez (15 May 1948

Tuesday, 5 March 2024

R.I.P. - Freddie Chavez (15 May 1948 - 2 Mar 2014)

Northern Soul DJ/promoter/author etc. Kev Roberts has posted on Soul Source that Freddie Chavez passed away on Saturday evening (2 Mar) aged 75.

His 1968 single has been well played on the Northern Soul scene over the years, initially for the B side "They'll Never Know Why" but also in more recent years the official funky crossover A side, "Baby I'm Sorry", which has found favour. Only two years ago we reported an auction for the single which had a bid of almost £3.5k. We didn't check the final bid. As we post this John Manship has another demo copy up for auction closing on 13 Mar with a current bid of £1k

Chavez recorded the single aged 21 for John Wagner's Nashville based Look Records. "They'll Never Know Why" was massive in the mid 70s and was bootlegged owing to popularity.

Prior to the release of his first solo single, he is credited as being a member of Thee Chekkers who also released a single ("Please Don't Go" / "Lack Of Love") on Look in 1968, he wrote both songs. The group released an earlier single (possibly around 1964/65) on Albuquerque's Red Feather label.

Chavez was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico and began his career aged only 11 in 1959. He played with a band all through high school and beyond singing anything from Spanish songs to psych rock. Two further singles are credited to him on FCP (his own imprint Freddie Chavez Productions) but no dates are available.

He was inducted into the New Mexico Hall of Fame in 2005 and continued performing until his health declined. In 2017 he released a CD, "Time & Time Again", with re-recorded versions of a couple of his Look songs. You can listen to the whole CD on his Soundcloud channel.

In 2018 Izipho Soul uncovered two previously unreleased songs Chavez recorded in 1979, "Cold Rainy Day" / "You've Been Wrong So Long", which they released on 7". The flip is more of a country/soul song similar to Dobie Gray's "Drift Away" written by David Nunez aka Dave Newman who also released a single on Look, "Make Up Your Mind", written by Chavez.

Included below is Freddie singing his NS anthem six years ago in Mar 2018 at Soul Trip U.S.A. Las Vegas organised by Roberts.