On October 19th, 2025, songwriter, guitarist, and the band leader for The Champs, Dave Burgess, passed away at the age of 90. A celebration of his life was held on November 8th and was attended by many of his friends and loved ones.
Dave Burgess was one of the key members of The Champs band, which was responsible for creating the cult classic song, ‘Tequila’. The song was written by the saxophonist Danny Flores under the name of “Chuck Rio” due to issues with a record label. Over the course of the decades the band played, the band had a total of 12 members.
For The Champs, ‘Tequila’ was their one hit wonder, becoming popular across the globe, with their other songs never reaching quite the same level of popularity. The song was released in 1958 and since then, the band has made several different iterations of the song. The most recent being when Dave Burgess got the band back together in 2020 and wrote the album, Tequila Party, which included a new party rendition of the classic song.
Burgess and the rest of The Champs were awarded the Grammy for Best R&B Performance for “Tequila’ in 1959, making the group one of the first to receive such an award.
From across the globe, thousands of fans have been making their voices heard on social media to give tribute to the lost legend and console Burgess’s son. Dave Burgess was a legend of music, and his influence on the lives of others cannot be understated. May he rest in peace.
