Chan Romero
Biography
An American teenage latin rocker in the late 50s, Chan Romero (died April 2024) found a brief spell of popularity with his best known track "The Hippy Hippy Shake" on the Del-Fi label that was popular particularly in Australia and the UK, where many groups including The Beatles covered it. He was the first Latino to be inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
Born Robert Lee Romero in Billings, Montana, on 7 July 1941, he started a band in the late 50s, and, at the urging of a local Montana DJ, went to LA to meet with Del-Fis Bob Keane. In the wake of fellow Del-Fi artist Richie Valens death in that infamous plane crash with Buddy Holly, Romero was set up with Valens backing band and pitched as the new hope for latin rock. Over the next few years he tried studio efforts with a variety of producers including notably Kim Fowley, Jeff Barry and Shadow Morton, but to no avail.
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Unfortunately, Romeros career was hit and miss, and after his Del-Fi contract lapsed in 1961 he attempted singles on labels like Living Legend, Challenge, and Phillips before becoming a devoted Christian artist on the Warrior label. He moved back to Billings, and his Del-Fi sessions were never finally compiled into a full length album until 1995, securing him merch to sell on the oldies circuit. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.