The Stowaways were:
Arturo Longoria – vocals
Pat Buckley – vocals
Norma Longoria – keyboards
Romolo Montalvo – lead guitar
James Buckley – rhythm guitar
Wendall Maloy – drums
Wendall Maloy sent in the clipping above and wrote to me about the Stowaways:
This is the first “garage band” to play the Grapefruit Bowl in Sharyland, TX. The photo is from The McAllen Monitor and mentions our parking lot dances in front of Carl’s Minimax in Mission. The photo was taken before the Pharaoh record we cut where the name of the group was changed.
Mr. Longoria paid for the record. On the record, we were listed as Arturo and Pat with the Stowaways. I don’t have a copy of the record. The title might have been, “Turn Your Light On Me.” It got lots of air play on KRIO because we were local. Jimmy Nichols, owner of Pharaoh Records, never signed a group and paid for their recording. He always got paid for studio time and pressing, in other words … he never invested in an artist or group. Anyone could cut a record with Pharaoh if they had the money. If I remember, it was about $500 for 500 records turnkey.
That was our only record with Arturo and Pat. They later were backed by The Invaders. [Arturo & Pat with the Invaders – “Oh Yes Tonight” / “So Tenderly & Faithfully” on Pharaoh 134]
Romolo Montalvo was a great lead guitar player. I played with Romolo, Juan Guerrero (bass guitar) and Oscar Villareall (vocals) at the Grapefruit Bowl after Romolo and I left Arturo and Pat. I soon left the Valley to attend college in Victoria, TX.
Oscar got a record deal with Falcon Records and had a successful career. He was killed in an accident while touring and his records started selling like crazy. I know that Juan played with Oscar’s band. I lost touch with most everyone, except Juan. He played with several Tejano groups like Los Fabulosos Quatro and later had his own group Los Sheekanos. He is in the Tejano Music Hall of Fame.
The best group from the Valley was the Playboy’s of Edinburg. They had a top 40 hit with “Look At Me Girl.” The song was recorded at Pharaoh and later released on Columbia. Bobby Vee covered the song, had it out at the same time on Liberty Records and kind of screwed them out of having a bigger hit.
I got drafted in 1967 and while serving as NCOIC of the Radio-TV Section at the Ft Hood Information Office, got the Playboys assigned to me when they came for summer camp with the National Guard. We are still close today.
Wendall Maloy
I was wondering why you stopped attaching the music files from you blog. You had some great music, and while the information is great, hearing the music adds to the experience. Keep up the great work.
By Arturo Longoria
The pop duo, Arturo and Pat, began around 1965 when Pat Buckley and I would sing to records by the major bands of the time: Beatles, Rolling Stones etc. When I met Romulo Montalvo (he was a few years older) we decided to form a band incorporating me on bass, Romulo on lead, Pat’s brother Jimmy on rhythm guitar, and Pat as backup singer. Occasionally my sister, Norma, would play an electric organ. For a short while a drummer in the high school band named Wendy Malloy played the drums for us. Pat and I cut a record, Turn Your Light on Me at Jimmy Nichol’s studio in McAllen. I wrote the song and so I played guitar on the record. Pat and I sang, but I also played the bass on the second track. I think Wendy played the drums. Later on I started looking for better musicians and that led me to John Ford who played with a McAllen band called the Invaders. John introduced me to Bill Reid. We jammed a bit and I was amazed at their talent. At the time I was writing a bunch of songs. Our second record (Oh Yes Tonight) incorporated me on lead vocal and guitar, John Ford on bass, Bill Reid on drums, my sister on organ, and Pat also on vocal. That was our best song. Pat and I were both 16 and my sister was 15. John and Bill we’re about 18 or 19. In the 60s every kid wanted to be a Beatle so there were dozens of garage bands where a few kids would get together and basically make noise. Only two or three bands were any good. My only interest was in the music so eventually I drifted off to write. Later on I studied biology and afterward started writing for a McAllen newspaper and then for Time Magazine and several other magazines. I’ve published books with Tx A&M University Press, Trinity University Press, and The University of New Mexico Press. The 60s were a long time ago but now and then I’ll think about those little groups. We were just kids.