Redbone (band)
Encyclopedia
Redbone is a Native American
rock
group
that was most active in the 1970s. They reached the Top 5 on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100
chart
in 1974 with the million-selling gold-certified single
, "Come and Get Your Love
".
Patrick Vasquez (bass
and vocals
) and Lolly Vasquez (guitar
and vocals) moved to Los Angeles in 1969 to form the group Redbone.
The name 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.
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. 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
was released in 1970.
Redbone played primarily rock music
with R&B
, Cajun, Jazz
, tribal, and Latin roots. Their first commercial success came with the single
"Maggie" from their second 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", written
by Lolly Vasquez stayed in the Billboard chart for 24 weeks, and was awarded a gold disc
by the 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
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
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
", recalling the massacre of 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 chart
in the U.S.
where it was initially withheld from release and then banned by several radio stations. 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. He died, at age 63, in a Las Vegas hospital on December 25, 2009, as the result of liver failure
.
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.
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). 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 for France). Their third album, Message from a Drum
, was released in Europe with another title (The Witch Queen of New Orleans) and a 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.
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
group
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
that was most active in the 1970s. They reached the Top 5 on the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
in 1974 with the million-selling gold-certified single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Come and Get Your Love
Come and Get Your Love
"Come and Get Your Love" is a 1974 hit single by the Native American rock band Redbone. The song was written by band member Lolly Vegas and produced by Lolly and his brother Pat Vegas, who was also a band member...
".
History
Originally from Fresno, California, brothersSibling
Siblings are people who share at least one parent. A male sibling is called a brother; and a female sibling is called a sister. In most societies throughout the world, siblings usually grow up together and spend a good deal of their childhood socializing with one another...
Patrick Vasquez (bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and vocals
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
) and Lolly Vasquez (guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and vocals) moved to Los Angeles in 1969 to form the group Redbone.
The name Redbone
Redbone (ethnicity)
Redbone is a term historically used in much of the southern United States, particularly in Louisiana, to refer to a Métis or Mestee ethnic group of mixed racial heritage.-Definition:...
itself is a joking reference to a Cajun
Cajun
Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
term for a mixed-race person ("half-breed"), the band's members being of mixed blood ancestry.
The band referenced Cajun and New Orleans culture many times in their lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
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. According to Patrick Vasquez, it was Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
- 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
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
in 1969. The band then consisted of Patrick Vasquez, Lolly Vasquez, Peter DePoe
Peter DePoe
Peter DePoe was born in Neah Bay, Washington, in 1943. A Cheyenne Indian, he became in 1969 the drummer for the Native American band Redbone. He was credited with developing a style of drumming known as "King Kong". In 1972, following the death of his father, he left the group...
and Tony Bellamy
Tony Bellamy
Anthony Bellamy or Tony "T-Bone" Bellamy, born as Anthony Avila on 12 September 1946 to parents James and Olga Bellamy, died 25 December 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada, was a Mexican-American Yaqui Indian, who became the lead guitarist, pianist and vocalist for the Native American rock band Redbone, in...
. Their debut album Redbone
Redbone (album)
Redbone is the first album by American band Redbone.-Side one:#"Crazy Cajun Cakewalk Band" – 3:06#"Prehistoric Rhythm" – 3:50#"Niki Hokey" – 3:17...
was released in 1970.
Redbone played primarily rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
with R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, Cajun, Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, tribal, and Latin roots. Their first commercial success came with the single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"Maggie" from their second album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Potlatch
Potlatch (album)
Potlatch is the second album by American band Redbone.-Side one:#"Maggie" – 5:06#"Light as a Feather" – 1:56#"Who Can Say" – 2:50#"Judgement Day" – 2:30...
, in 1970, and two other hit single
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
s followed - "The Witch Queen of New Orleans" (1971, #21 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
) and "Come and Get Your Love
Come and Get Your Love
"Come and Get Your Love" is a 1974 hit single by the Native American rock band Redbone. The song was written by band member Lolly Vegas and produced by Lolly and his brother Pat Vegas, who was also a band member...
" (1974, #5 on the Billboard Hot 100). "Come and Get Your Love", written
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
by Lolly Vasquez stayed in the Billboard chart for 24 weeks, and was awarded a gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
by the R.I.A.A.
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
on 22 April 1974.
Lolly Vasquez was one of the first guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
s to make extensive use of the distinctive Leslie rotating speaker effect in his electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
amplification
Amplifier
Generally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal.In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to...
set-up. Vasquez played improvised, jazz-influenced guitar. Drummer Peter DePoe (born 1943, Neah Bay, Washington
Neah Bay, Washington
Neah Bay is a census-designated place on the Makah Indian reservation in Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 794 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Neah Bay is located at ....
) is credited with pioneering the "King Kong" style of drumming, which features sharply accented polyrhythms involving the bass
Bass drum
Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
and snare drum
Snare drum
The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
s and is similar to funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
styles of drumming. The band referred to DePoe's "King Kong Beat" in their lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
to the song "Prehistoric Rhythm" on their debut album.
In 1973, Redbone released the politically oriented "We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee
Wounded Knee Massacre
The Wounded Knee Massacre happened on December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, USA. On the day before, a detachment of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment commanded by Major Samuel M...
", recalling the massacre of Lakota Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
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
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
but did not chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
where it was initially withheld from release and then banned by several radio stations. 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. He died, at age 63, in a Las Vegas hospital on December 25, 2009, as the result of liver failure
Liver failure
Acute liver failure is the appearance of severe complications rapidly after the first signs of liver disease , and indicates that the liver has sustained severe damage . The complications are hepatic encephalopathy and impaired protein synthesis...
.
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
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
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
Montana Standard
The Montana Standard is a Lee Enterprises daily newspaper printed in Butte, Montana. Its circulation is 14,044 on Sundays, 13,780 on weekdays....
- defrauded the county fair board of the Butte Silver-Bow County Fair in Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana
Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...
, under pretenses of being a co-founding member of Redbone, yet he was never a band member.
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). 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
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, and as a single LP in most of Europe (except for France). Their third album, Message from a Drum
Message from a Drum
Message from a Drum is the third album by American band Redbone released in 1971. It was released in Europe under the name The Witch Queen of New Orleans with the same track list and a different cover...
, was released in Europe with another title (The Witch Queen of New Orleans) and a 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
Danny Spanos
Danny Spanos is best known for his 1983 Rock and Roll EP "Passion In The Dark" which produced the top 40 hit single "Hot Cherie" and received big airplay on radio stations nationwide in the summer of 1983...
, 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
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
in Reseda, California.
Discography
- RedboneRedbone (album)Redbone is the first album by American band Redbone.-Side one:#"Crazy Cajun Cakewalk Band" – 3:06#"Prehistoric Rhythm" – 3:50#"Niki Hokey" – 3:17...
(1970) - PotlatchPotlatch (album)Potlatch is the second album by American band Redbone.-Side one:#"Maggie" – 5:06#"Light as a Feather" – 1:56#"Who Can Say" – 2:50#"Judgement Day" – 2:30...
(1970) - Message from a DrumMessage from a DrumMessage from a Drum is the third album by American band Redbone released in 1971. It was released in Europe under the name The Witch Queen of New Orleans with the same track list and a different cover...
(1971) - The Witch Queen of New Orleans (European issue of Message from a Drum, same songs - different cover, 1971)
- Already HereAlready HereAlready Here is the fourth album by American band Redbone.-Side one:#"Fais-Do" – 2:36#"Motivation" – 2:13#"Power " – 4:29#"Speakeasy" – 3:50...
(1972) - WovokaWovoka (album)-Side one:#"Wovoka" – 3:00#"Sweet Lady of Love" – 3:08#"Someday " – 4:12#"Liquid Truth" – 5:03-Side two:#"Come and Get Your Love" – 4:27...
(1973) - Beaded Dreams Through Turquoise EyesBeaded Dreams Through Turquoise EyesBeaded Dreams Through Turquoise Eyes is the sixth album by American band Redbone.-Side one:#"One More Time" – 2:52#"Suzi Girl" – 2:54#"Only You and Rock and Roll" – 2:58...
(1974) - Come & Get Your Redbone (compilationCompilation albumA compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, 1975) - The Best of Redbone (compilation, 1976)
- CyclesCycles (Redbone album)Cycles is the seventh album by American band Redbone.-Side one:#"Cycles" – 4:48#"Open " – 3:20#"Gamble " – 3:30#"Ooh" – 5:05...
(1977) - The Very Best of RedboneThe Very Best of RedboneThe Very Best of Redbone is one of several compilation albums by American band Redbone which includes their 1973 hit "We Were All Wounded At Wounded Knee"...
(compilation, 1991) - Redbone LiveRedbone LiveRedbone Live is a live album by American band Redbone.-Track listing:#"Don't Say No" – 4:48#"Witch Queen of New Orleans" – 3:41#"Give Our Love Another Try" – 7:29#"Maggie" – 9:09...
(1994) - Great Songs (Come and Get Your Love) (compilation, 1995)
- Golden Classics (compilation, 1996)
- To the Bone (compilation, 1998)
- Redbone and Wet Willie: Take Two (compilation, 2002)
- The Essential Redbone (compilation, 2003)
- One WorldOne World (Redbone album)One World is an album by American band Redbone. Not much is known of the record more than it was released in 2005 by a small independent record company of unknown origin...
(2005), later re-edited as "Peace Pipe".
External links
- Official Redbone and Pat Vegas website
- MySpace - Redbone (Unofficial Redbone website)
- Redbone (Unofficial site with information about Redbone, in English and French)
- Cajun Funk with a Touch of Latin Soul. - Redbone history on Mark Guerrero's site