NO MORE WASTED DAYS : After Years of Derailments, Freddy Fender’s Career Is Finally Fully on Track

Freddy Fender may share a name with the famous guitars that originated in the town he’ll be playing Sunday night, but when you consider his career path, it’s a well-known wristwatch that comes to mind: Fender has been able to take a lickin’ and keep on tickin.’

At 55, the singer from south Texas is on his third life as a performer, appearing both as a solo act--as he will this weekend--and as one-fourth of the feisty Tex-Mex all-star band, the Texas Tornados.

Fender, who was born Baldemar Huerta, grew up in a family of migrant farm workers. He enlisted at 16 in the Marines, then came back to Texas and formed a band.

He began his recording career in 1957, playing rock ‘n’ roll and singing in Spanish a year before Californian Ritchie Valens became the first nationally known Mexican-American rock star.

Fender scored regional hits, including his signature ballad, “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” until his career got derailed for the first time. In 1960, police in Baton Rouge, La., arrested him for possession of a tiny quantity of marijuana, and Fender wound up serving three years of a five-year sentence.

After that setback, Fender didn’t deliver on his early promise until 1975, when he achieved stardom in a new incarnation as a country singer.

That year, Fender’s rendition of “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” became a huge hit, topping both the country and pop charts.

Other successes followed, including a remake of “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” that made the pop Top 10. But by the early 1980s, Fender’s second run had played itself out.

Before he could launch career Act III, Fender had to emerge from a long period of drug and alcohol abuse. He accomplished that in the mid-1980s, then re-emerged in 1987 in a movie role, playing the part of a corrupt mayor in “The Milagro Beanfield War.”

Fender, who had kept up a heavy touring schedule even during his down years in the ‘80s, found his next prominent musical platform in 1990, when he formed the Texas Tornados with rockers Doug Sahm and Augie Meyers (both of the Sir Douglas Quintet), and folk accordionist Flaco Jimenez.

On the Tornados’ two albums, Fender has shown that his distinctive, trembling tenor remains in fine shape.

Last year, he re-established his solo recording career with the release of “The Freddy Fender Collection,” an album that showcases his ‘50s-influenced ballad style with new versions of many of his best-known songs, including “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” and “Before the Next Teardrop Falls.”

Fender’s agenda remains full, including a European tour early this fall with the Texas Tornados, to be followed in October by the release of the band’s third album.

Who: Freddy Fender.

When: Saturday, July 25, at 10:30 p.m. and Sunday, July 26, at 6 p.m.

Where: Saturday at Duffers Irish Pub, 25571 Jeronimo Road, Mission Viejo; Sunday at the Ice House, 112 E. Walnut Ave., Fullerton.

Whereabouts: To Duffers: From the north, Santa Ana (5) Freeway to El Toro Road, left to Jeronimo, right to club; from south, exit freeway at Alicia Parkway, go right to Jeronimo, then left. To Ice House: Riverside (91) Freeway to Harbor Boulevard north, then right on Walnut.

Wherewithal: $25 at Duffers, $20 at Ice House.

Where to call: Duffers: (714) 768-8935. Ice House: (714) 740-1108 (promoter’s phone).