SAN ANTONIO — A silent struggle for a singer. Lee Villarreal with the award-winning Tejano band 'Los Desperadoz' recently opened up on social media about issues with his vocal cords. For several years, he's been battling the problem behind the microphone. Recently, the singer had surgery.
"By the grace of God the Desperadoz, are here after 36 years," he said. "And we are still going. Thank you Jesus."
The Villarreal family has music roots dating back to the 50's. Los Desperadoz is primarily made up off three brothers, Mike, PJ, and Lee.
However, on May 7, Lee took to the group's Facebook page to share an important message. The video has nearly 50,000 views and has been shared hundreds of times.
In the video, Lee said: "I wanted to share something, with you," he said. "It is very personal. Sixteen years ago, I was having a lot of personal issues singing. It turned out, I had a cyst in my vocal cords. I had two of them."
The group's vocalist and bajo sexto player said he went through surgeries even added that he tried everything, so he could belt it out. His first surgery was in 2007. However, through all these years, he said he truly never recovered.
"I was able to sing harmonies to cover up the imperfections of my vocal cords," he said. "Thank God for my brother Mike because he stepped up. The way the sound guy would mix us, is mix us together so I was there and not overbearing. Because if you were able to hear my voice, you would be able to tell like this guy is sick or something is wrong with them."
He said fans would request their popular songs like 'Ella', or 'Corazonada', and he couldn't sing them.
"I would just say I haven't sang it in a while," Lee said. "I don't remember the words. All these years that's has been my cover up. "There is times when I am up on stage, and I am telling myself, why the heck am I even here, why am I even here."
On May 9, he went through another surgery. He met with a specialist in San Antonio, who said he immediately saw the problem.
"Scarring on my vocal cords," he said. "When he took pictures he showed it exactly where it is at."
Lee said the procedure was putting a filler on his cords to help with the issue. He said this is a temporary filler. So far, he said everything seems okay. However, he will know more on his follow-up visit this week as to what's next in his journey.
He did add that he feels comfort knowing that his fans now know.
"It is a relief," he said. "I got it out. The other thing, I have a lot of support. I noticed I have a lot of support. Also, a lot of prayers."
The musician is hopeful this will be his time to once again end on a good note.
"I have a lot of faith that this is going to be it. This is going to be the one. This is my turn," he said. "This is my time."