Rosie Flores (born September 10, 1950) is an American

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist. Her music blends

honky tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, or tonk) is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano ( tack piano) ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, and

Western swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the Western United States, West and Southern United States, South among the region's Western music (North America), Western string bands. It is dan ...

along with traditional influences from her Tex-Mex heritage. She currently resides in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, Texas, where August 31 was declared Rosie Flores Day by the Austin City Council in 2006.

Biography

Rosie Flores was born in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, United States, where she lived until the age of twelve, when her family moved to

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. In interviews, Flores has recalled that growing up, she loved to watch musical television shows like ''

The Dick Clark Show ''The Dick Clark Show'' (also known as ''Dick Clark's Saturday Night Beechnut Show'') was an American musical variety show broadcast weekly in the United States on the ABC television network 7:30-8 p.m. (Eastern Time) on Saturdays from February 15 ...

'' and ''

Hit Parade A hit parade is a ranked list of the most popular recordings at a given point in time, usually determined either by sales or airplay. The term originated in the 1930s; ''Billboard'' magazine published its first music hit parade on January 4, 1936 ...

''. She began singing as a young child, and her brother, Roger, taught her to play rhythm guitar when she was a teenager. Flores formed her first band, Penelope's Children, while still in high school in California. In the 1970s, Flores played the San Diego nightclub circuit and was the namesake of the

alt country Alt or ALT may refer to: Abbreviations for words * Alt account, an alternative online identity also known as a sock puppet account * Alternate character, in online gaming * Alternate route, type of highway designation * Alternating group, mathema ...

cowpunk Cowpunk (or country punk) is a subgenre of punk rock that began in the United Kingdom and Southern California in the late 1970s - early 1980s. It combines punk rock or New wave music, new wave with country music, country, folk music, folk, and b ...

band Rosie and the Screamers. After leaving the Screamers, she joined a cowpunk

all-female band An all-female band is a musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universally followed. While ...

called

Screamin' Sirens Screamin' Sirens was an American all-female band from Hollywood, California that recorded from 1983 to 1987. The band combined country music, punk rock, rockabilly and a dash of funk to create an eclectic wild party music. Screamin' Sirens p ...

in the 1980s. The latter band produced a series of 7-inch singles and tracks for compilation albums before releasing an album in 1987, ''Voodoo.'' Flores's self-titled solo debut came out on

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any repea ...

in 1987. The single, "Crying Over You", put her on the ''Billboard'' chart for the first time. Since then, Flores has recorded ten additional solo albums. Flores has toured widely, appearing in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia, and also performing frequently in Austin, continuing into 2019. In 1995, she joined

Wanda Jackson Wanda LaVonne Jackson (born October 20, 1937) is an American singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of rock, country and gospel. She was among the first women to have a career in rock and roll, ...

on a coast-to-coast North American tour, and she toured as a member of

Asleep at the Wheel Asleep at the Wheel is an American Western swing group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, and is based in Austin, Texas. The band has won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception, released over twenty albums, and has charted more t ...

in 1997. She has also traveled with a concert tribute she created to honor

Janis Martin Janis Darlene Martin (March 27, 1940 – September 3, 2007) was an American rockabilly and country music singer. She was one of the few women working in the male-dominated rock and roll music field during the 1950s and one of country music ...

, a program which she performed at the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and ...

among other places. In 2012, she was part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's tribute to Chuck Berry. Her media appearances include ''

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show t ...

'' and ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...

'', and she had a cameo role in the 1993 film ''

The Thing Called Love ''The Thing Called Love'' is a 1993 American comedy-drama film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Samantha Mathis as Miranda Presley, a young musician who tries to make it big in Nashville. River Phoenix, Dermot Mulroney and Sandra Bullo ...

''. In addition to her work as a performer and songwriter, Flores has helped to revive the careers of female rockabilly musicians from previous generations and to create new interest in their music. Her album ''Rockabilly Filly'', released on Hightone Records in 1995, included vocals from early rock and roll musicians

and

. In 2007, Flores brought Janis Martin to a recording studio in Blanco, Texas, to record what would be both Martin's first solo album in thirty years as well as her last before her death of cancer. After the project was turned down by a number of record labels, Flores raised more than $16,000 on Kickstarter to release the album, which was titled ''Janis Martin: The Blanco Sessions''. Flores is credited as a producer. Flores's current (as of 2013–2018) guitar of choice is her James Trussart SteeltopCaster. She uses

Fender amplifier Fender amplifiers are a series of electric instrument amplifiers produced by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. The first guitar amplifiers attributed to Leo Fender were manufactured by the K&F Manufacturing Corporation (K&F) betwee ...

s, and has also played

Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it is the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful Les Paul had built a prototype solid bo ...

Gretsch Gretsch is an American company that manufactures musical instruments. The company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, shortly after his arrival to the United States. Friedrich Gretsc ...

electrics,

Gibson Les Paul The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typi ...

s, and various acoustic guitars.

Personal life

Flores has revealed that, under pressure from her manager, she had an abortion in 1986, shortly after signing with Warner Bros. She later regretted the decision. She has never been married, and has said that her lifestyle, which involves frequent touring, makes it difficult to maintain long-term relationships.

Discography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* *
Rosie Flores at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame

L.A. Record: Rosie Flores interview

Rosie Fores in the Austin Chronicle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flores, Rosie American country guitarists American women country singers American country singer-songwriters American rockabilly guitarists 1950 births Musicians from San Antonio Writers from Austin, Texas Musicians from Austin, Texas American musicians of Mexican descent Living people Asleep at the Wheel members Reprise Records artists Bloodshot Records artists Singer-songwriters from Texas Guitarists from Texas 20th-century American women guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American guitarists Country musicians from Texas 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women singers Hispanic and Latino American musicians 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers