A few decades ago, when I used to be a newspaper man for the Brownsville Herald, a co-worker – then-sports writer Julio Lozano – told me of a local band that was burning up the dance halls across Texas.
I was intrigued.
Brownsville – as in the case of Chelo Silva – has a knack for not recognizing their own. So we made plans to do a feature on the group which called itself Mazz. Some of the principals like Joe Lopez and Jimmy Gonzalez, were part of the old Bel Aire Band, well known to local Tejano fans. Lopez even bought a 1957 Chevy Bel Aire to remember the band's start.
Today, relatives have confirmed that Gonzalez passed away from severe levels of low blood sugar at about 9:30 a.m. in a San Antonio Hospital.
And just this past March 15, Lopez was released from a prison in Huntsville after serving 10 years of a 32-year sentence for sexually assaulting a minor, his niece.But in the mid-1980s, when Julio and I went to do a story on them, that was far into the future.
At the time we went to see them, they were playing at the Texas Southmost College prom, the Bougainvillea.
Before that event, we were invited to Lopez's house in the Brownsville Country Club where they posed for pictures with their trophies and their golden records.
Somewhere in the Brownsville Herald archives, a full-page Lifestyle feature depicts them playing at the TSC prom and in Lopez's home.
They were somewhat frustrated that when they played in Houston or some other locale like San Antonio, they used to pack the venues. And yet, when they played locally, the crowds were sparse and it was hard to get local people excited.
Over time, however, their fame grew and they went on to become headliners and Grammy winners.
Time has passed.
Lopez's Bel Aire is still in Brownsville but now owned by a local attorney who got it as payment for initially defending him from the sexual assault charges before someone talked him into changing lawyers. The first lawyer had gotten a 10-year probation sentence through a plea bargain, but Lopez rejected the offer and took his chances.
Gonzalez and Lopez separated in 1998 and he had several hit records on his own and with Grupo Mazz.
Gonzalez y Grupo Mazz won Best Tejano Album four times at the Latin Grammy Awards from 2001-2004. The group also won Best Tejano Album at the American Grammy Awards in 2004.
RIP, Jimmy.