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Biography
Infobox musical artist | | name = Redbone| image =| caption =| image_size = | alias =| background = group_or_band| alias =| origin = Fresno, California|Fresno , Los Angeles , California , United States | genre = rock music|Rock Rhythm and blues|R& B Cajun Funk | years_active = 1969& ndash;present| label = Epic Records | associated_acts = Pat and Lolly Vegas Danny Spanos | website = http://www.redbone.fr Redbone.com| current_members =| past_members = Patrick Vegas Lolly Vegas Peter DePoe Tony Bellamy Butch Rillera Danny Spanos|George Spanos Raven Hernandez Arturo Perez Redbone is a Native Americans in the United States|Native American rock music|rock musical ensemble|group that was most active in the 1970s. They reached the Top 40|Top 5 on the United States|U.S. Billboard Hot 100 record chart|chart in 1974 with the million-selling gold-certified Single (music)|single , " Come and Get Your Love ".
History
Originally from Fresno, California , sibling|brothers Patrick Vegas ( bass guitar|bass and singing|vocals ) and Lolly Vegas ( guitar and vocals) moved to Los Angeles in 1969 to form the group Redbone. http://www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com/ama10.cfm History of Redbone on Native American Music Awards.com
The name Redbone (ethnicity)|Redbone itself is a joking reference to a Cajun term for a mixed-race person ("half-breed"), the band's members being of mixed blood ancestry.cite book | first= Joseph | last= Murrells | year= 1978 | title= The Book of Golden Discs | edition= 2nd | publisher= Barrie and Jenkins Ltd | location= London | page= 349 | isbn= 0-214-20512-6 The band referenced Cajun and New Orleans culture many times in their lyrics and performing style. Patrick and Lolly, who were a mixture of Native American and Mexican heritage, had previously performed and recorded under the stage surname Vegas, in part to downplay the Latin American association of their birth surname, Vasquez. http://therecordshack.com/2009/11/22/112109-show/e According to Patrick Vasquez, it was Jimi Hendrix - himself part Native American - who talked the musicians into forming an all-Native American rock group, and they signed as the band "Redbone" to Epic Records in 1969. The band then consisted of Patrick Vasquez, Lolly Vasquez, Peter DePoe and Tony Bellamy . Their debut album Redbone (album)|Redbone was released in 1970.
Prior to forming Redbone the brothers had some initial success as songwriters. In 1967 P.J. Proby recorded his only Top 30 hit "Niki Hoeky" by Jim Ford, Lolly Vegas and Pat Vegas. The next year, Bobby Gentry performed the Cajun-influenced song on The Summer Smothers Brothers Show.cite web|author= |url= http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=6dyo_xZnvsA |title=Bobbie Gentry - Niki Hoeky |publisher=YouTube |date= |accessdate=2012-04-23 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0712997/
Redbone played primarily rock music with Rhythm and blues|R& B , Cajun, Jazz , tribal, and Latin roots. Their first commercial success came with the single (music)|single "Maggie" from their second album , Potlatch (album)|Potlatch , in 1970, and two other hit single s followed - "The Witch Queen of New Orleans" (1971, #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 ) and " Come and Get Your Love " (1974, #5 on the Billboard Hot 100). "Come and Get Your Love", songwriter|written by Lolly Vasquez stayed in the Billboard chart for 24 weeks, and was awarded a music recording sales certification|gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America|R.I.A.A. on 22 April 1974.
Lolly Vasquez was one of the first guitarist s to make extensive use of the distinctive Leslie rotating speaker effect in his electric guitar amplifier|amplification set-up. Vasquez played improvised, jazz-influenced guitar. Drummer Peter DePoe (born 1943, Neah Bay, Washington ) is credited with pioneering the "King Kong" style of drumming, which features sharply accented polyrhythms involving the Bass drum|bass and snare drum s and is similar to funk styles of drumming. The band referred to DePoe's "King Kong Beat" in their lyrics to the song "Prehistoric Rhythm" on their debut album.
In 1973, Redbone released the politically oriented "We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee Massacre|Wounded Knee ", recalling the massacre of Lakota people|Lakota Sioux Indians by the Seventh Cavalry in 1890. The song ends with the subtly altered sentence "We were all wounded 'by' Wounded Knee". It charted in several European countries and reached the #1 position in The Netherlands but did not record chart|chart in the United States|U.S. where it was initially withheld from release and then banned by several radio stations.cite web|url= http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608004043/Redbone.html|title=Redbone Biography|publisher=Musician Guide|year=2009|accessdate=2009-01-19 Original drummer Peter DePoe left to be replaced by Butch Rillera. Following this the band achieved much of their commercial success. Tony Bellamy (guitar, piano and vocals) left the band in 1977. http://20gp.ovh.net/~redbone/history3.html History of Redbone He died, at age 63, http://www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com/newsremembrance.cfm Native American Music Awards (NAMA) - "In Their Honor" in a Las Vegas hospital on December 25, 2009, as the result of liver failure . http://www.lvol.com/gossip/ Claire Voyant's Column - Las Vegas
The band's current remaining membership is led by Pat Vasquez. Raven Hernandez (guitar, vocals and songwriter) joined Redbone in 1996 to replace Lolly Vasquez after he suffered a stroke that left him unable to tour with the band. Although Redbone has had some limited activity in recent years, their songwriting and touring output is slight compared with that of the early 1970s. A proposed reunion tour in 2003 did not occur. Evidence suggests the existence of an "imposter band" illegally touring the United States and posing as Redbone under the name (or alias) "Denny Freeman". Freeman - who Pat Vasquez confirmed to be unaffiliated with Redbone in an interview with the Montana Standard - defrauded the county fair board of the Butte Silver-Bow County Fair in Butte, Montana , under pretenses of being a co-founding member of Redbone, yet he was never a band member. http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2006/08/11/newsbutte_top/20060811_newsbutte_top.txt mtstandard.com
Prior to forming Redbone, Pat and Lolly Vasquez released an album in the mid 1960s entitled Pat & Lolly Vegas at the Haunted House (Mercury MG 21059/SR 61059).Allmusic|class=album|id=r64556|pure_url=yes Allmusic.com discography Of the twelve songs on the album, six were originals by the Vasquez brothers. Pat and Lolly also released several singles from 1961 to the mid 1960s. One of them was titled "Robot Walk" / "Don't You Remember" (Apogee Records A-101).
The first self titled album by Redbone was released as a double album in North America , and as a single LP in most of Europe (except France).
Their third album, Message from a Drum , was released in Europe (except Spain) with the title The Witch Queen of New Orleans and different cover than the one released in the U.S. and Canada.
One of the 1970s drummers, George Spannos, released his own hit album Passion in the Dark in 1983 under the name Danny Spanos , having a Top 40 hit single with "Hot Cherie".
Redbone was inducted into the Native American Music Association Hall of Fame in 2008.
On March 4, 2010, Lolly Vasquez died of lung cancer in Reseda, California . http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm? fuseaction=blog.view& friendId=95442277& blogId=530357253 Redbone MySpacePage
Discography
Redbone (album)|Redbone (1970)
Potlatch (album)|Potlatch (1970)
Message from a Drum (1971)
The Witch Queen of New Orleans (European issue of Message from a Drum , same songs - different cover, 1971)Allmusic|class=album|id=r912369|pure_url=yes Allmusic.com
http://www.redbone.fr/ Redbone (Unofficial site with information about Redbone, in English and French)
http://www.markguerrero.com/23.php Cajun Funk with a Touch of Latin Soul. - Redbone history on Mark Guerrero's site
Redbone DEFAULTSORT:Redbone Category:American rock music groups Category:Native American musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 1969 Category:Epic Records artists
