Beto Quintanilla was originally from General Terán, a small town in Nuevo León, Mexico. The date of his birth is unknown, but was some time in the late 1940s. As a child, Quintanilla composed poems or odes to his mother, his teacher, his school, and his country. He left school after only a year of secondary education in order to work in fields alongside his father and his five brothers. His extended family also included three male relatives and two women. The farm was not enough to support the entire family and when he was 13 years old, young Beto relocated to Reynosa, Tamaulipas, where he had found a job milking cows. He did this for a year, and then worked with an aunt in a clothing store for several years. Quintanilla never had any formal musical training. Although he had always written poetry and songs, musical instruments and musical training were scarce, and he knew few musicians. However, at some time during his life on the ranch, he did meet a pair of musicians who played bajo sexto and accordion. He began writing songs for them, and then songs for other groups. Eventually he came to the attention of Ruben Polanco, the artistic director of a record company, and Polanco encouraged him to sing his songs himself. Apparently Quintanilla initially objected that he did not know how to sing and felt out of place when he sang. Polanco told him not to waste time , that he wanted to sign artists like Quintanilla, and that he had a unique style and presence. Quintanilla died in Reynosa, Mexico, on 18 March 2007. The cause of death was a heart attack, said to be related to a drug overdose.
Legacy
Quintanilla recorded mostly narcocorridos, many of which he composed. He recorded more than 20 albums in his lifetime, not including collections of hits. After his death, many of his albums were re-released, and his songs appeared on various collections released by different record companies. Some of these collections have misleading titles: for instance, the album "La Ejecución De Juan" , released in 2009, apparently does not contain the song "La Ejecución De Juan", which was on the original album, a concept album of the same title. Other posthumous releases or the publicity for them imply that the material on them is new, or even that Quintanilla is still alive. Quintanilla wrote and performed a substantial number of songs, well over 100, but due to all the album releases, some of his songs appear on two, three or four albums, making his discography much larger than the body of work behind it. In 2006, Beto recorded an album with his look-alike and sound-alike brother, Jesus "Chuy" Quintanilla, called "Frente A Frente" . Chuy Quintanilla carried on the family narcocorrido tradition until 2013, when he was murdered near Mission, Texas. Beto's son, Beto Quintanilla Jr., recorded an album of his father's songs, "Homenaje a Mi Padre" in 2007, soon after his father died. Beto Quintanilla's famous songs include "El Deportado", "Le Compre La Muerte a Mi Hijo", "Raquenel Villanueva", "El Gordo Paz", "El Sapo", "Los Pilares de la Carcel", "El Calabozo", "La Carga Ladeada", "Un Ratoncito Orejon", and "El Corrido de Los Zetas." These songs remain concert and studio standards for bands that play corridos.
Discography
The discography assumes that if there are two albums of the same name, the later album is a re-release of the first, although as noted above, in at least one case this seems to be untrue. La Carrera Del Chucho La Ejecución De Juan Los Primeros 15 Rugidos Del León Más Corridos Corridos Famosos y El Gordo Paz Ratoncito El Ondeao Al Filo De La Navaja Antonio Fonseca En Vivo Desde Linares, Nuevo León La Carga Del Diablo Pistoleros De Fama 15 Éxitos de Beto Quintanilla Pa' La Raza Libertad de Expresión Corridos A La Mexicana 15 Éxitos 16 Éxitos Con Banda Suspiro En Vivo Gallo Fino Mi Historia Musical: 20 Exitos Pobreza Infeliz Pa' Cantar Hay Que Ser Gallo 100% Corridos 25 Aniversario: En Concierto 25 Aniversario en Vivo y Directo Las Clásicas Los Ángeles Van al Cielo Mi Vida En Canciones—15 Exitos Rafael Lucero Todo Quintanilla Abandone a Mi Amigo Dos En Uno Frente Al Frente 20 Exitos El Beso De Tierra Las Claves de Beto Quintanilla Mi Hijo No Es Un Cobarde Tragedias Reales de la Vida Las Viejas Bravas De... Clasicas 15 Éxitos El Mero León Del Corrido El Pescado Enjabonado Le Compré La Muerte A Mi Hijo La Santisima Muerte Los Primeros Rugidos Del León Los Remixes Del Mero León Del Corrido Mi Historia Musical—20 Corridos Patrulla de Blanco y Negro Raquenel Villanueva Ratoncito Orejon Trans-Am 98 Con la Banda Yurirense La Ejecución De Juan Los Remixes Del Mero Leon Del Corrido, Vol. 2 Mujeres Buenas Malas Y Valientes El Mero León Del Corrido 2 Para Toda La Leonada Las Clásicas Mis Primero Éxitos Puros Corridos, Vol. 1
