In the late '80s and early '90s, Brownsville-founded Grupo Mazz was among the hottest names in Tejano music and a major South Texas concert draw.
The influential band was known for bringing an updated sound and image to the genre, drawing on rock and pop influences. Its hits, including "Amor Con Amor," "Estúpido Romántico" and "No Te Olvidaré," remain popular to this day.
Given that track record, it might seem like a decision by the organizers of the Tejano Music Awards to give a Lifetime Achievement Award to one of Grupo Mazz's founding members would be cause for celebration among South Texas music fans.
Instead, the recognition of former Grupo Mazz lead vocalist Joe Lopez with that award is mired in controversy, and some Tejano fans say they plan to protest the 43rd Annual Tejano Music Awards, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 21, at the Boeing Center at Tech Port.
Casting a dark cloud over the award is Lopez's 2006 conviction on charges that he raped his then-13-year-old niece. He served 12 years of a 20-year sentence for the crime and was released from prison in 2018.
What's more, some fans argue that the recognition slights the legacy of fellow bandmember Jimmy Gonzalez, who died in 2018. Gonzalez's supporters argue he did most of the work in running the band, while Lopez eventually left to strike out on a solo career.
While Grupo Mazz racked up six Latin Grammy Awards, it won all of them after Lopez's departure. By that time, the group had been renamed Jimmy Gonzalez y Grupo Mazz. In recent public statements, Gonzalez's family accuses Lopez of taking credit for those Latin Grammy wins in the bio he submitted to the Tejano Music Awards.
However, the Texas Talent Musicians Association, which organizes the Tejano Music Awards, sticks by honoring Lopez for his lifetime contribution to the music form. Gonzalez received the same recognition posthumously in 2018.
"Our mission statement is to recognize artists and songwriters for their contributions to Tejano music, and that's the only thing we base it on," TTMA Vice President Frank Salazar said.
"The initial bio that was sent to us was sent by [Joe Lopez's] camp," Salazar also said. "We don't know everything about an artist. So, when they send us their bios, we're assuming that they are what they're saying. As far as investigating, we can only do so much of that."
The Current tried to reach out to Lopez for comment, contacting both his brother and his current music label, Monterrey Music. We received no response by press time.
Even so, Gonzalez's family did respond, saying they were "devastated" by the TTMA's decision to recognize Lopez.
"We certainly do not agree with the TTMA's decision to hail Lopez with a Lifetime Achievement Award, specifically because he attempted to impersonate our father and his career accomplishments, and most importantly because we stand in solidarity with the victim of the crime in which Lopez was found guilty," the family said in an emailed statement.
A wild run
While Grupo Mazz was popular and left a lasting stamp on Tejano music, the anger over Lopez's award isn't the first time controversy swirled around the group.
"There was an aspect of [Grupo Mazz] that was similar to the excesses of what you hear about Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles, and what you hear about some of the binges those bands did," said music historian Hector Saldaña, curator of the Texas Music Collection at The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University.
The Grupo Mazz was also subjected to a bitter breakup during its run. Lopez left in 1999 to strike out on a solo career, which Gonzalez and others said put further stress on the band. By many reports, that departure ended a long-running friendship and musical collaboration.
Lopez and Gonzalez jointly launched what would eventually become Grupo Mazz in the '60s in Brownsville, according to a biography published by Texas music journalist Ramon Hernandez.
"We grew up together, we went to kindergarten together, we went to the elementary, and we graduated from the same high school," Gonzalez told Tejano music radio host Robert Rivas in May 2015.
After knocking around in South Texas groups, sometimes together and other times apart, the pair crossed paths again when Lopez joined Gonzalez's band Something Different during the early 1970s. That group ultimately become Grupo Mazz in 1978.
"Joe [Lopez], as the lead singer, was the frontman, the musician who got the spotlight and all the attention," journalist Hernandez said of the duo's relationship. "Whereas an always humble Jimmy [Gonzalez] was content doing second voice."
During his 2015 radio interview, Gonzalez maintained that he did most of the behind-the-scenes work for the band and even recorded one complete song on every Grupo Mazz album imitating Lopez's voice. He did it so well, many fans mistook the tracks as being sung by Lopez himself, the musician added.
"I mean, I did everything," Gonzalez said in 2015. "A lot of people didn't know that, and I think people are realizing that. I picked the songs, I did the arrangements, I went to the studio, I recorded the whole thing. Joe didn't even take time to practice the songs at home. He did them in the studio."
Although Gonzalez and music historian Saldaña insist that Lopez was more of a pretty boy frontman than the engine behind the group, Grupo Mazz certainly had its share of success while he was in the band.
The act signed its first major recording deal with CBS Records in 1988 and won multiple Tejano Music Awards, including Most Promising Band of the Year (1981), Album of the Year (1988) and Song of the Year (1990), according to the TTMA archives.
Still, no Latin Grammys, though.
Divergent paths
With that early success under his belt, Lopez struck out on his own.
Music historian Saldaña said it's likely a talent agent whispered into Lopez's ear that he didn't need Gonzalez or the rest of Grupo Mazz to succeed. However, Gonzalez said in the 2015 radio interview a woman Lopez was romantically involved with urged him to leave the band.
Either way, Lopez split from Grupo Mazz in 1999, leaving his childhood friend behind. Gonzalez was so distraught that it took him more than a year to perform again.
Eventually, however, Gonzalez and others regrouped as Jimmy Gonzalez y El Grupo Mazz. The new incarnation continued to record and tour, eventually bagging Latin Grammy awards for Best Tejano Album in 2001, 2022, 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2014.
On the other hand, Lopez's solo career proved lackluster, according to Saldaña. Eventually, it ground to a halt due to the singer's legal troubles.
In 2006, a Cameron County jury convicted Lopez on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child on allegations that he raped his teenage niece two years prior, court records show.
Lopez was released on parole in March 2018. He remains on the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry.
Grupo Mazz played one final performance in Dallas before Lopez was sentenced. During his 2015 radio interview, Gonzalez said that was the last time he had any contact with Lopez.
"I wasn't too crazy about it after what he did to me; it just terribly hurt me," Gonzalez said. Rompio mi corazon is what he did to me."
He continued: "He has the right to call me, and he has my phone number, but he has yet to call me. So, I don't know, I guess there's still damage there."
After his 2018 release, Lopez tried to launch a solo career, but the move proved controversial. That same year, he canceled a show in San Antonio after reportedly receiving death threats.
Anger over the award
While the bad blood between Gonzalez and Lopez may be old news, the controversy over the latter's pending Lifetime Achievement Award is anything but, according to observers.
"I've been getting a lot of calls about that, and a lot of people are thinking about protesting [the awards]," said Felix Mendoza, a former media contact for the Tejano Music Awards.
While much of the anger centers around the TTMA's decision to honor a convicted sex offender, many also have vented frustration about the award's announcement. Like Gonzalez's family, some online posters expressed outrage that Lopez's bio included mention of Grupo Mazz's Latin Grammys, all of which were won after he left.
On Sept. 29, Gonzalez's estate posted a strongly worded message on a Facebook fan page dedicated to the late musician. Family members accused the Tejano Music Awards of allowing Lopez to impersonate Gonzalez and steal his career achievements.
"We urge the Tejano Music Awards and Association to retract the misinformation shared in a mass email to their followers which falsely credits Mr. Joe Lopez as the recipient of Grammy Awards earned by Jimmy Gonzalez y Grupo Mazz while in his solo career," the statement read.
As of press time, the post has garnered 3,000 reactions and more than 600 comments.
"That email was insulting to read. And his biography had something missing," fan Piper Lemone commented, noting that two press releases from the TTMA on the award failed to mention Lopez's rape conviction.
"The credit must go to Jimmy Gonzalez," chimed in Benito Conteras Jr.
Music historian Saldaña understands the outrage.
"If you don't appear on that record, then that's not your [Latin] Grammy," he said.
The TTMA ultimately sent out a revised version of its press release, this one removing the Latin Grammys from Lopez's list of achievements. However, the group plans to move ahead with the Lifetime Achievement award.
"Without one or the other, without Jimmy or without Joe, there would be no Mazz," STTM's Salazar told the Current. "Joe was the voice of Mazz, Jimmy was the guy behind them making sure that the band sounded tight. It was a contribution by both gentlemen that made the sound of Grupo Mazz. So, by recognizing one and not the other, we didn't think that was right."
Who ultimately deserves the most credit for Grupo Mazz's success may remain a subject debated by Tejano fans for years to come. The fact that emotions run so high decades after the band's time together remains a testament to its lasting impact.
"We did beautiful music, and that's why it won't go away," Gonzalez said during his 2015 interview.
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