Flaco Jiménez (born Leonardo “Flaco” Jiménez, March 11, 1939 – died July 31, 2025) was a towering figure in Tex‑Mex and conjunto music whose influence spanned generations of American and Mexican-American listeners. Born in San Antonio into a musical dynasty—his grandfather Patricio and father Santiago Jiménez Sr. were pioneering conjunto musicians—Flaco Jiménez began performing alongside his father at age seven before cutting his first recordings at 15 with Los Caporales and later launching a solo career in the 1960s. He gained national visibility when Doug Sahm invited him to record in New York in the early 1970s, leading to collaborations with Ry Cooder, including on the album Chicken Skin Music, and an appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1976. Through the 1980s and 1990s, Flaco Jiménez became an in-demand session musician, adding his signature accordion to recordings by Bob Dylan, Dr. John, Emmylou Harris, Los Lobos, and even the Rolling Stones on Voodoo Lounge. He also released influential solo albums such as Ay Te Dejo en San Antonio (1986), which won a Grammy, and joined the Tex-Mex supergroup Texas Tornados, where he played alongside Sahm, Freddy Fender, and Augie Meyers. Further acclaim came with his work in the Latin Grammy-winning ensemble Los Super Seven and his solo releases like Flaco Jiménez (1994), Buena Suerte, Señorita (1996), and Said and Done (1998). In the 2000s, albums such as Squeeze Box King (2003) and Legends & Legacies (2014) with Max Baca continued to showcase his virtuosity. He was honored with six Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015, a National Heritage Fellowship, and the National Medal of Arts in 2022. Flaco Jiménez remained active into his later years and passed away in July 2025 at age 86.
