SAN ANTONIO – Shelly Lares and Patsy Torres each decided to build on their celebrity in ways some of their devoted fans may find surprising after making their marks in the Tejano music industry that they helped pioneer.
“I already made my musical legacy, but I have to build my life’s legacy now,” Lares said.
After 40 years on the road, Lares finally retired.
“That’s a chapter of my life that I closed because I can do that in my sleep,” Lares said.
Although she still writes and produces music and promotes young artists, Lares said she found her life’s calling in February by doing hospice work augmented with musical therapy.
Lares said she’d always wanted to work in hospice, but she thought it would take a degree in nursing to achieve that dream.
Her cousin, who has a hospice agency, asked her to do musical therapy for her patients.
Lares said entertaining thousands upon thousands of people pales compared to what she’s doing now for people “about to transition.”
“To make them smile and sing and be happy just for that moment –– nothing compares to that,” Lares said.
This year, Lares also became the first artist-in-residence in the UTSA School of Music, teaching students about the business side of the music industry.
Lares said she wants them to learn what she and Patsy Torres had to do the hard way.
“Look who my mentor is,” Lares said. “My mentor is a doctor.”
Patty Torres
Adding to her extensive bio, Patsy Torres earned a Ph.D. in education and organizational leadership from the University of the Incarnate Word in 2011.
Torres was doing her “Positive Force” tour in schools when she said UIW contacted her about helping promote the school, but they could only “pay” her with semester hours.
After earning a 4.0 grade point, Torres said UIW awarded her a scholarship, encouraging her to pursue her Ph.D.
Torres said people would ask her, “What’s it going to feel like when they call you Dr. Torres?”
She said it was then “I realized my dream did come true.”
Although she had dreamt of being a physician like her father, Torres said, as an “edutainer,” she’s a “doctor of the soul.”
Torres still records music, including a holiday album. Her newest CD is titled “Vive Con Ganas.”
She said “ganas” means “passion, desire, energy, gusto, drive.”
Torres said people should approach everything they do like her good friend Shelly Lares: “Do it with ganas.”
Their friendship over four decades began when Lares was the little girl with the big voice performing as “Little Miss Dynamite,” who idolized Torres.
They said now they share a spiritual bond.
“We serve our life for God. We really do, both of us. We do everything according to God’s will,” Torres said.
In return, Lares said, “He takes care of us. He blesses us.”