Sunny & The Sunliners

By blending the Tex-Mex sounds of their native San Antonio with mainstream influences like doo wop, pop, and soul, Sunny & the Sunglows — later known as Sunny & the Headliners — became the first Tejano band to chart a Top 20 hit in America. The group was formed in 1959 by a group of Texas-based high school students, including vocalist Sunny Ozuna and saxophonist Gilbert Fernandez. Sunny & the Sunglows spent three years woodshedding their unique brand of Chicano rock & roll before partnering with Okeh Records and releasing their first national single, "Golly Gee," in 1962. A remake of Little Willie John's "Talk To Me, Talk To Me" followed in 1963 and became a gold-certified crossover hit, peaking at Number 4 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Chart, Number 11 on the Hot 100, and Number 12 on the R&B Singles Chart that October. After becoming the first Tejano band to appear on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, the Sunglows changed their name of Sunny & the Headliners. Personnel changes became a frequent headache for the group during the following decades, but Sunny & the Headliners remained leaders of the Tejano scene through the early 1980s, bouncing between English-language releases like 1968's Little Brown Eyed Soul and Spanish albums like 1974's El Orgullo de Texas. Following the band's breakup, frontman Sunny Ozuna launched a successful solo career and later joined The Legends, a Tejano supergroup whose 2000 debut, ¿Qué Es Música Tejana?, won a Grammy Award for "Best Tejano Album" in 2001.