The Champs were a rock and roll band, most famous for their Latin-tinged instrumental "Tequila". Formed by studio executives at Gene Autry's Challenge Records to record a B-Side for the Dave Burgess (aka Dave Dupree) single, the intended throwaway track became more famous than its A-Side, "Train to Nowhere". "Tequila" went to No. 1 in just three weeks and the band became the first group to go to the top spot with an instrumental that was their first release. The song was recorded at Gold Star Studios in 1958, and in 1959 won the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording.
There are many cover versions of the tune, for example by rappers A.L.T. and XL Singleton. The Champs also had success with instrumentals such as "Limbo Rock" and the famous "La Cucaracha". In 1985 it featured prominently in the movie "Pee Wee's Big Adventure", that inspired a 1985 Hip-Hop hit for rapper Joeski Love based on Tequila's melody.
The Champs also recorded a sequel to Tequila entitled Too Much Tequila.
They're mentioned in Thomas Pynchon's 2009 novel Inherent Vice (pg. 125).
The Biography appearing in this section is attributed to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Champs. Portions of this Biography may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. Additional terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.
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