Leonardo “Flaco” Jimenez, the Grammy-winning accordionist and pioneer of conjunto music, has died. He was 86. Jimenez’s family shared the news on Facebook Thursday night, writing, “He was surrounded by his loved ones and will be missed immensely.” Born in San Antonio in 1939, Jimenez was trained in the conjunto tradition by his father, Santiago, and rose to fame collaborating with musician Doug Sahm. With Sahm and fellow Texas rock icons Freddy Fender and Augie Meyers, Jimenez formed the Texas Tornados, whose Spanglish hits like the 1990 song “(Hey Baby) Que Paso?” helped bring national attention to conjunto music. Jimenez also enjoyed substantial success as a solo artist, earning six Grammy Awards, a National Heritage Fellowship, and a National Medal of the Arts. His fame continued to rise through collaborations with Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, Los Lobos, and more. His 1992 album Partners, which featured several of those collaborations, was added to the National Recording Registry in 2021. Though Jimenez’s family did not reveal his cause of death, he had suffered several illnesses in recent years and was hospitalized in January. He is survived by his children and his younger brother, fellow conjunto accordionist Santiago Jimenez Jr.
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