This Month’s Featured Artist

July 1, 2013

He shook hands with Ritchie Valens.

He jammed with a high school buddy who formed “America’s Band.”

As a teenager, he racked up a Top 5 international hit.

On a tour of the UK, his opening act was a group called The Beatles.

Disgusted with the music industry, he bailed out, only to be given a second chance by one of America’s most popular musicians.

His name: Ezekiel Christopher Montanez

You know him as Chris Montez.

Early R&B records. Hits by Elvis Presley and The Everly Brothers. These were the rock ’n’ roll tunes that filled the Montanez home in Hawthorne, Calif., where Chris and his eight siblings lived with their mother.

Chris recalls his part in the family song fests: “My brothers performed for themselves in the house. One of them was more or less raising me because my father passed when I was 11. We’d be sitting at the kitchen table and he’d say, ‘Grab the guitar, come on and sing with me.’ That’s where I learned singing harmony, with my brothers.”

Like many teenagers, Chris had an abundance of confidence. “I did a hop where they had a talent show. I had written a couple of songs and I took my brother, who thought he was a lead guitarist. We practiced and practiced. I got up [on stage] and started singing and when I said, ‘OK, Fernando, take the solo,’ I turned around and he was gone! He got so nervous he bounced off the stage. But I finished my songs!”

Just as importantly, his classmates responded positively. “They said, ‘That was good, Zeke.’ Zeke. That’s what they called me all through high school.”

Ritchie Valens — like Chris, a Mexican-American — was a special hero and musical inspiration. He also gave Chris a valuable lesson in how to treat one’s fans. Standing in the back of the crowd at a hop where Ritchie was appearing on the strength of his first hit record, “Come On, Let’s Go,” Chris looked to his right and there stood the man himself. Valens said hello and shook Chris’ hand: a seemingly simple act, yet one that Chris remembers as one of the seminal events in his life.

Even after Ritchie’s tragic death on Feb. 3, 1959, his influence stayed with Chris, who recorded his own Valens-inspired disc the following year.

“I wrote a couple of songs and went to a small studio. I was confident as a songwriter, which was not really true but it was good enough,” he says, laughing heartily. “I guess that was my destiny, something that I was supposed to do. That’s how I look at it.”

Chris took his demo disc home, played it for his family and friends, and thought nothing more of it until the day that destiny — in the guise of Barry De Vorzon (who had co-written the hits “Just Married” and “Dreamin’”) — called. The result was Chris’ first commercial release, on Guaranteed Records, both sides of which grabbed radio airplay in the Southwest.

With it came a new, showbiz-friendly name suggested by De Vorzon. “It was a whole new persona and I wasn’t too comfortable with it. When I told my mother and she said, ‘Oh, that’s a beautiful name,’ that released me. If my mother loved it, I loved it.”

Chris’ next label stop was Monogram with “All You had To Do (Was Tell Me).” Released in the fall of 1960, it became a Top 10 record in LA and No. 1 in Tucson, yet failed to crack Billboard magazine’s national Hot 100. The follow-up single did that and much more.

“I didn’t want to do ‘Let’s Dance,’ says Chris. “I still wanted to do the Ritchie Valens stuff.” When he first walked into the legendary Gold Star studio, the singer saw what he took to be an unpromising sign: a female bass player. “I thought, ‘Oh, no.’ I told her that I’d like to have that kind of Richie Valens feel and she said, ‘Well, I did his album.’ Then I related to her! What more could God send me? [After that,] Carol Kaye and I became good friends.”

Coincidentally, neighborhood friend and high school classmate Brian Wilson was breaking into the scene nationally with “Surfin’ Safari.” [I remember when] we were standing in front of the house,” recalls Chris, “and he says, ‘We’ve just signed with a record label and we’re going to name ourselves The Beach Boys,’ and I said to myself, ‘The Beach Boys, what an odd name!’ ”

In October 1962 “Let’s Dance” rolled to No. 4 in the U.S. and then to No. 2 in Britain. Which is how Chris and fellow American rock star Tommy “Sheila” Roe came to headline a three-week tour of England in March of 1963, supported by the Fab Four. 

In preparation for his turn on the international stage, Chris visited a famed Hollywood tailor in search of some sharp new clothes. “I was new to this, but this guy was supposedly a hotshot and he brought out two collarless coats. He said, ‘This is the latest thing in Europe; you’re going to be in style.’ [But] when I went over there, everybody asked me where I got the coat. That rat! He told me I was going to be in. I wasn’t in!” (Nevertheless, his opening act loved Chris’ hip look enough that — as Chris would discover in February 1964 when they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show — they were now sporting collarless jackets, too.)

When the tour opened at the Granada Cinema in London on March 9, Chris had two Top 10 UK hits to his credit: “Let’s Dance” and “Some Kinda Fun.” The Beatles had scored with “Love Me Do” in late ’62 and “Please Please Me” had just topped the British chart. When their first album hit the record stores on March 22, they were the hottest band around.

Chris was there to see it happen: “The girls were crazy about them. American artists were real important but there was a transition happening. I thought they were real heavyweights; they were a hungry rock ’n’ roll band. It was a wonderful experience.”

When he heard the album, he was instantly knocked out. “As soon as Paul put that record on and I heard ‘I Saw Her Standing There,’ I thought, ‘Oh, what a great song.’ It still sounds great today. Outstanding.”

After tour’s end, Chris returned to a decidedly different scene. He wasn’t having success with his latest singles and he discovered that his label was cheating him. His response: quit the music business and go back to school.

And that’s where things stood until a chance meeting with a thriving songwriter, musician and label owner. Chris picks up the story: “A musician friend of mine was trying to get a recording contract. He had submitted a couple of songs to Herb Alpert [and asked me to go with him]. I didn’t even know who Herb Alpert was. Herb said, ‘I’d like to record you,’ [but] I didn’t want to be connected with the music industry; I was completely disillusioned.”

A couple of months and a change of heart later, Chris was in the studio again. “I did rock ’n’ roll music à la Ritchie Valens and ‘Let’s Dance’ but Herb Alpert didn’t care for it too much. I thought, ‘Oh man, here we go again. I should never have gotten back into it.’”

Herb had other ideas. “I walked into his office and Herb said, ‘I’ve got a great song for you...listen.’ And he sings, ‘If you’re feeling sad and lonely...’ ” The tune was “Call Me,” first recorded by another of this year’s Malt Shop Memories Cruise star performers, Petula Clark.

For the arrangement, Herb took his cue from Dobie Gray and Ramsey Lewis’ funky-groove recordings of “The ‘In’ Crowd.” In the studio, Herb left nothing to chance, standing — according to Chris —“right next to me at the mic and coaching me while I was doing the vocals.”

Although Chris loved “good songs,” he didn’t think he was mature enough at age 22 to handle tunes such as “Call Me.” “I’d always wanted to do standards but not then. [But] Herb Alpert loved it.”

Radio deejays and record buyers agreed with Herb. Early in 1966, “Call Me” reached No. 2 on the Easy Listening list, peaking at No. 22 on the Hot 100. Several additional “easy” hits followed; including “The More I See You” (also a UK #3), “There Will Be Another You” and “Time After Time.” Chris was on a roll stateside and elsewhere. He recalls: “I flew into Rio de Janeiro and I saw thousands of people. I thought there was a diplomat or somebody important on the plane. When I came out, there was a big banner, ‘Welcome Chris Montez.’ It was chaotic and it was fun.”

As with all success rides, sales began to slide and Chris became discontented. “I thought I was getting lost in the shuffle.” Plus, he had some “advisors” whispering in his ear, “’There’s other companies that want you.’ I thought that someone else would respect what I’m about and it didn’t happen.” Once again, Chris and the music business parted ways.

Several years passed and lightning struck a third time when Chris got a call from CBS International in New York. “I ended up writing songs that were bilingual Mexican polkas,” says Chris. “One was ‘Loco Por Ti’ and another was ‘Ay No Digas,’ which was a big hit in Germany, France and Austria. I sang them in English and Spanish; the hook was in Spanish.”

His international hits have served Chris well over the decades. “I’m going back to Austria next year because they want to hear some of things I did on that album. I just finished 64 concerts in Europe and I’ve got an offer to do another 40 dates.”

In addition to his steady touring schedule, there’s also a documentary in the works about his life, The Chris Montez Story. All of which keeps Chris as busy as he wants to be, doing what he loves.

“Life has been real good. I’ve got my health, I’ve got my children and I can do whatever I want. It’s been a wonderful experience to have that kind of reaction from people twice in your life: receiving gold records and getting honors from all over the world and singing in that era of rock ’n’ roll. That’s fantastic.”

Then there’s the MSM cruise this November, about which Chris is unreservedly enthusiastic. “I can’t wait for the cruise! I’m honored. I love to entertain the fans.”

Ed Osborne © 2013

Stay up-to-date on Chris’ news and tour dates at www.chrismontez.com. And be sure to make time to see Chris’ story live on the Malt Shop Memories Cruise! Chris will be hosting a special screening of his self-titled movie with a Q&A to follow.