A historical marker to be placed in southwest Detroit will be the first in the state to recognize the contributions of a Mexican community to Michigan history. Among those it will honor include the late Martin Solis, a longtime Melvindale resident known locally as a Tejano musician who played at small bars and dance halls.
When
Frank Solis found the tapes, he almost threw them out.
He and his family as well as the music world had assumed that his father, Michigander and Tejano music pioneer Martin Huron Solis Jr., had never recorded the songs that made him a pioneer in Detroit’s music scene of the 1940s and ‘50s. Though Martin was inducted into the Tejano R.O.O.T.S. Hall of Fame in 2018, he was best known for his compelling live performances and hadn’t ever released an album with his fellow musicians, who made up Los Primos.
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