Roy Montelongo’s journey to tejano music legend started in Hays County back in 1938, shortly before his family relocated to Austin.
His father, Vicente, was a member of the famed Beto Villa Orquesta as a saxophonist and clarinetist, instruments he would soon take up under his father’s tutelage.
Growing up in Austin, Montelongo came up playing music with other legends of the city’s tejano music scene such as Alfonso Ramos and Manuel “Cowboy” Donley.
Montelongo was a member of the Austin High School Band and by the age of 15 he, too, was a member of Beto Villa’s Orquesta, on the recommendation of his father.
It wasn’t long before Montelongo set out on his own path. He was playing with his band, Roy Montelongo y Su Orquesta, by 1964 and soon after they released Austin Presenta Roy Montelongo, pressed by Austin-based Valmon Records.
He continued making and playing music for the better part of three decades, working also as a DJ on tejano stations across South-Central Texas.
Montelongo performed live for the final time in 1991, the same year he was inducted into the Conjunto Music Hall of Fame.
He died from cancer in 2001. Five years on, the City of Austin honored Montelongo with a memorial on the Trail of Tejano Music along Lady Bird Lake.
