Hank Ayala was born and raised in the coastal plain town of Weslaco Texas, which was not too far from Brownsville and the Mexican border. Hank discovered in Junior High that he had definite musical ability and as was common in those days, formed a singing group. Originally, the group had seven members, but they whittled it down to three. The group included Hank Ayala; lead and high tenor, Manuel Pena: high tenor, Eddie Ramirez; second tenor. While singing at a local hop, radio DJ Bobby Dixon approached them with the idea of singing locally with his connections. The group eventually cut a record on the Houston based Backbeat label, and were fortunate to have Bobby Doyle and Kenny Rogers play on the session. They enjoyed it so much, they actually played several gigs with the Matadors in the surrounding area. Once the record was released, they actually played it over the intercom at the Matadors school - Weslaco High School. The record did very well locally, but did not catch on nationally. They didn't really have an effective manager, and that was a stumbling block to their career. The group broke up as they finished high school. Eddie Ramirez Went into the air Force and Manuel Pena went off to college. Hank was left on his own, and did some solo work and assembled a group, but did not continue with it for long. Listen to an in-studio interview with Hank Ayala Here. This was recorded in fall 2007.