Though it peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 49 on June 8, 1963, Medley and his partner, Bobby Hatfield, were offered a national distribution contract by VeeJay records.
He taught the song to Hatfield, then contacted Ray Maxwell, the owner of a local label called Moonglow Records, who came to hear the duo sing it.
Nothing happened when "Lupe" was released, so Hatfield and Medley took some gigs at The Rendezvous Ballroom in Newport Beach, California, which was a surf rock dance club where Dick Dale also played.
When Los Angeles stations KFWB and KRLA heard that 1500 records had been sold, they added "Lupe" to their programing list, and soon they were getting requests for the song.
"[8] "Little Latin Lupe Lu" is mentioned in the film High Fidelity (based on the Nick Hornby novel of the same name) as track number 2 on Barry's (played by Jack Black) Monday-morning mix tape.