Virginia Y Valor teamed up with Toby Beau to record a bilingual version of the 1978 hit single “My Angel Baby” originally recorded by the Texas-based band.
Lead vocalist and co-composer (with Danny McKenna) of the original song, Balde Silva, and Virginia Y Valor lead vocalist Virginia Champion are first cousins, and Virginia reached out to Silva to collaborate on an updated version of the pop ballad, which reached the top of the Billboard Easy Listening Chart and No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 for Toby Beau.
Balde Silva (Courtesy photo)
“I said, ‘Hey, how do you feel about redoing the song but in a bilingual version?’ and they said, ‘Yeah, prima let’s do it.'” Virginia tells Tejano Nation. “It was an awesome experience. We had, not only Balde but his wife Rennetta and their son Michael. We had a wonderful time but we made it as close to the original version, which nobody has ever done. There have been other recorded versions of ‘My Angel Baby” but nothing with Balde, nothing like this one.”
In 2021, Toby Beau joined Virginia to record with Grammy nominee and 2022 Premios Tejano Mundial Engineer of the Year, Severo “Sevy” Contreras. This new release of the 70s classic includes Silva on vocals, guitar, harmonica, and five-part harmony.
“It definitely has a beautiful sound, modern feel to it,” Virginia added. “It’s going to take people to those that remember the back in the day version in 1978. I think that they are going to recognize it right away because they are going to hear a lot of the same instrumentation and Balde voice first before I come in.”
“My Angel Baby” is bound to bring back sweet memories for some and introduce a classic sound to others. The song is part of Adelante, the sophomore album from Virginia Y Valor released in September 2021, and is available to stream or download on all digital music platforms.