Even before winning his highly contested congressional race this week, Bobby Pulido had made up his mind to give up music and focus on public service. “If people want me to represent them and they believe that I could best represent them, I’m perfectly comfortable never having a concert again,” he told Rolling Stone last month. Then he admitted bashfully, “I’m putting a karaoke machine in my house.”
Pulido said it in jest, but there’s probably some sadness as he leaves his music days behind him. After all, that’s a 30-year career as a singer he’s saying goodbye to. Pulido was born in Texas, the oldest to Tejano musicians Robert Pulido and Diana Montez, each who carved out their own respective paths in the genre. As a kid, Pulido played music with his high school mariachi and ended up in his dad’s band Los Clásicos. One of his first songs ended up being “Contigo,” a collaboration with his dad from 1994.
That song pretty much kick-started an impressive run for Pulido. The next year, he released his debut album Desvelado, spawning off his first hit “No Se Por Que,” which made its way onto Billboard’s Latin charts. The title track “Desvelado” also saw major success and remains a standard in Pulido’s catalogue. For a long time, fans thought the song was originally written for Selena Quintanilla, though Pulido dispelled the rumors in an interview.
Pulido had momentum and kept going. He followed his debut up with Enséñame, an album that blended cumbia and ranchera sounds with country sensibilities, and Llegaste a Mi Vida, another success on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Albums chart. Zona de Peligro came in 2000, followed by Siempre Pensando En Ti in 2001. Though those albums fell in the years Tejano music slowed down, Pulido picked things back up with Bobby, landing a hit with “Vanidosa.” Pulido stayed busy with more albums and a few featured roles on several telenovelas.
Though Pulido’s later albums saw less commercial success, the 2020s brought some major breaks: He won his first Latin Grammy in 2022 for Best Tejano Album after the release of his record Para Que Baile Mi Pueblo. Even when he announced he was stepping away from music to pursue politics, the musical success kept coming: a second Latin Grammy came in 2025, this time for Best Tejano Album for his album, Bobby Pulido & Friends: Una Tuya y Una Mía (Vol. 1/En Vivo). He also scored a nomination at the Grammys for Best Mexican Music Album (Including Tejano) for Bobby Pulido & Friends: Una Tuya y Una Mía (Por La Puerta Grande). The second part of that album is up for a Latin Grammy at the ceremony, which will take place on Nov. 12.
Pulido announced he was running and gave an exclusive interview to Rolling Stone at the time. When asked what he’d say to people who doubted he could run an effective political career because of his music, he responded, “I don’t blame them. I have been incredibly careful not to mix politics with my career. I understand if somebody says, ‘What does he know? He’s a singer.’ But that’s why you talk about the issues.” He also evoked the president’s career in pop culture. ” If you voted for the guy that was a reality TV star, and if you voted for the woman that is now our congresswoman that was selling insurance out of a strip mall, did you ask her the same question?”
Throughout his campaign, Pulido kept his connection to music strong. The campaign put out a public call play at local quinceañeras, which are birthday parties for girls turning 15 in Latino communities, and Pulido came out to more than 75 events. He made a show of singing his his hit “Desvelado” and also taking the time to engage with families and voters. Still, he was clear that he was focused on connecting with constituents, not performing for the masses.
“I could foresee in the future maybe potentially doing a benefit and maybe using a concert here and there to help raise money for various causes that are really important to me,” he told Rolling Stone in October. “But public service to me is much more powerful. I do music for me because I enjoy it, but when you’re serving, it’s not for you. It’s for other people, and I think my life would be complete that way.”
When Pulido won his race this week, he celebrated by nodding to his music fans. “For more than 30 years, you’ve played my music at your weddings, your quinceañeras and your backyard barbecues,” he said.
