Home » Entertainment » Shelly Lares, Jay Perez, Stevie D, and JR Gomez top winners at 40th annual Tejano Music Awards featuring virtual performances – Tejano Nation
Shelly Lares, Jay Perez, Stevie D, and JR Gomez top winners at 40th annual Tejano Music Awards featuring virtual performances – Tejano Nation
The 40th annual Tejano Music Awards honored the best in Tejano music on Tuesday night during a virtually streamed event because of the current pandemic. Shelly Lares, Jay Perez, Stevie D, and JR Gomez won two awards each leading all winners.
Lares, who had the most nominations with six in multiple categories, won Female Vocalist of the Year and Collaboration of the Year with Ernestine Romero for their duet “Estupida.” It was a dream come true for Romero, the New Mexico singer who was tragically murdered in July 2019.
“Our angel, may she rest in peace and I know she is celebrating right now in Heaven. I know it,” Lares exclaimed in her acceptance speech for Collaborationof the Year. “She was always saying, ‘I want to work with you, I want to do something with you’…Thank you to Eddie Perez for making that happen, he’s the producer of the song…This is for Ernestine’s fans and all of New Mexico.”
Jay Perez won Male Vocalist of the Year and Tejano Album of the Year with 25th Anniversary With You. Stevie D took the trophies for Song of the Year with “Ahora Sigo Yo” and Video of the Year for “El Primer Tonto.” JR Gomez won Best New Male Artist and Best New Group with his band Los Conjunto Bandits.
Gary Hobbs was named Entertainer of the Year. “Off the bucket list of a dream come true,” he said when accepting the award. The singer from Eagle Pass, Texas, who recently celebrated 37 years in Tejano music, thanked God, his family, friends, fans, and band members. “I want to thank every musician that has been on stage with us during these 37 years of nothing but Tejano music.”
The Tejano Music Awards were streamed at FierroHD.com and TejanoMusicAwards.com featured a special tribute to Selena and performances by Jay Perez, Gary Hobbs, Shelly Lares, Stefani Montiel, Isabel Marie & The Vibe, JR Gomez, South TX Homies, The Mavericks, Monica Saldivar, Ricky Valenz, and an all-star performance of “America The Beautiful.”
The best performance of the night was a Stefani Montiel video montage featuring collaborations with Savannah V on “Vive” and “Echame La Culpa” with Leonel Correa of The calm sandwiched around Stefani’s “Lo Que Me Gusta”. The amazing performance montage, produced by Gabriel Zavala, can be seen below.