Little Julian Herrera and the Tigers
Late 1950's Chicano style Doo Wop group signed by Johnny Otis to his Dig label in 1956 after discovering them at the El Monte Legion Stadium. They recorded a couple of singles for Dig which became local hits. In 1957 they moved to Starla Records and recorded "I Remember Linda" featuring Ray Collins' falsetto backing vocal.
Herrera seemed to vanish not long after. Otis later recalled a probation officer coming to him looking for a Ron Gregory. When shown a picture Otis said "That's Lil' Julian". It is thought that Ron Gregory was a Hungarian Jew who, at the age of eleven, had run away from his home in Massachusetts and hitchhiked to Los Angeles where he was taken in by an Mexican American family and later adopted their family name.
From the "biographical trivia" section on the Freak Out! (1966) album: ... Moved into my recording studio, joined forces with Ray, Jim and Roy, schemed and plotted for a year, working in beer joints, blah, blah, starved a lot, etc... played a lot of freaky music & stayed vastly unpopular (though notorious). OWE OUR EXISTENCE to Mark Cheka for his initial encouragement and sterling example (and to a whole bunch of other people who are going to be bugged because their names aren't listed in detail, with addresses and pertinent facts about what they like about the government & their other fetishes). Ray used to be a carpenter and a bartender and sing with Little Julian Herrera & The Tigers (note the falsetto part in 'I REMEMBER LINDA')... been singing R&B for ten to twelve years. Jim got fired from some idiot band in Kansas, forcing him to move to California. Lucky for us. Seems he just couldn't get turned on playing " Louie, Louie" all night... it must have hurt him deeply when they rejected him. Roy is an asthmatic Pachuco, good-natured excellent bass player, involved in the R&B scene here for about ten years. He is unbelievably tolerant. I don't understand it. Elliot digs the blues. He has a big dimple in his chin. We made him grow beard to cover it up. He just got out of the Army. Lucky for the Army. THEY ARE ALL MUSICIANS.
- Little Julian Herrera And The Tigers: I Remember Linda / True Fine Mama (Starla Records, 1957)
