Famous Musicians You Never Knew Were Born In El Paso
When we think of El Paso musicians, some of the biggest names we think of include John Moyer, Jim Ward, or Cesar Soto.
But with El Paso being a HUGE city, there's bound to be many musicians that were born here that perhaps you never knew.
Karen Taylor-Good: The singer-songwriter & one half of StoweGood, Karen Taylor-Good was born in El Paso (then named Karen Burke). Her first big hit "Diamond in the Rough" reached the top 40 on the Billboard Country charts in 1982; she was nominated for best country artist in 1984, & her voice has been used in commercial jingles for Taco Bell, United Airlines & the peanut butter company Peter Pan.
Her song "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye" was also nominated during the Grammys for Best Country Song.
She currently lives in Nashville but she DOES remember her life in El Paso. She did an interview with the Talk & Rock Radio podcast in El Paso.
Even if you look deep in some of her lyrics, El Paso was present in her music too. Just look at the lyrics for "Tex Appeal". Or better yet... you can hear it yourself.
Hugh Prestwood: Staying in the world of country, Hugh Prestwood was also born in El Paso back in 1942 & would graduate from UTEP before moving to New York City. He's won countless awards including the Nashville Songwriters Association's Song of the Year & a Prime Time Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Music & Lyrics.
Hugh would join the Nashville's Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006 alongside Jimmy Buffett & Jim Weatherly.
Esther Jones: One of the Ikettes, Esther Jones, was a fellow El Pasoan. Born in 1946, she would move to Midland where she would take up singing, writing, playing percussion. Her band at the time, the B29ers, was her way of getting recognized by Ike & Tina Turner. Needless to say, she earned a LOT of respect in the group.
Tragically Esther passed away from a stroke December 8th, 2006. But we still remember Esther as the toughest Ikette there was...
Pat Bruders: Let's go into the world of rock & metal shall we? We all know John Moyer as the bassist for Disturbed, but another El Paso bassist that made it big is Pat Bruders. Fans of Down will recognize him as the bassist who plays alongside Phil Anselmo.
But that wasn't the only band Pat has played with: he's also been in band such as Goatwhore, Crowbar & Saint Vitus.
Randy Van Horne: If you don't who Randy Van Horne is, you definitely know the classic shows he's written for...
Yes. Randy Van Horne was responsible for creating the theme songs to both The Jetsons & The Flintstones. Not only was Randy born in El Paso, he studied music at UTEP back in the 40s.
Sadly Randy passed away from cancer on September 26th 2007. So in honor of him, I will watch The Jetsons & The Flintstones in his honor...
Joe Scruggs: And speaking of children's shows... Joe Scruggs has had an AMAZING career writing children's music. Joe was born in El Paso in 1951 & moved to Austin where his career took off. He would win countless awards (and I do mean... A LOT)
He's even made appearances with Barney... the same purple dinosaur Barney.
I'm serious.
He was a BIG deal. He's retired now, but his work is still appreciated today.
If you want to see even MORE famous El Paso musicians, you can find a ton of them HERE.