The Blendells
Encyclopedia
The Blendells were a 1960s Mexican American
brown-eyed soul
group from East Los Angeles, California
. They garnered success in 1964 with their Latin-tinged cover of Stevie Wonder
's "La La La La La." During the brief time they were together, they performed at venues such as the famous Shrine Auditorium
. Their tours included performances in California
, Arizona
, New Mexico
, Nevada
, Idaho
, Oregon
and the state of Washington. They shared the stage with the Dave Clark 5, Roy Orbison
, Dick Dale
, The Ventures, The Shirelles
, The Drifters
, The Coasters
, and Chuck Berry
. Though little known today, The Blendells retain a cult following in West Coast Mexican American communities.
Forty years ago, Chicanos from East L.A. broke the mold of stereotypical Mexican-American musicians and singers, and began performing and recording rock & roll in English—an innovation for its time—re-introducing a Califas music style that was almost lost with the earlier demise of the late Ritchie Valens
of Pacoima, California.
The Blendells recorded only two singles, “La La La La La” (that is now available in the album Baby Don't Go
), backed with “Huggies Bunnies” and “Dance with Me,” backed with “Get Your Baby.”
Many in the "West Coast East Side" music community believe the Blendells would have achieved far more success had most of its members not been drafted into the Vietnam War
. Rampart Records President (and Vietnam veteran) Steven Chavez stated, "Almost 50% of the artists from the East Side Sound era served in combat roles in Vietnam, losing their innocence to a war in the prime of their youth, and returned to a changed American music scene that pretty much turned their back on them with the advent of new genres like hard rock, heavy metal
, punk, disco
and the like. Chicano music has had a vast influence on Americana, with some of the most recorded music in the American Music scene never being credited to the Chicano artists that broke the mold from traditional Spanish-language Mariachi
and Ranchera
music, which is still the stereotypical impression that a lot of people have of Mexican-American artists outside of L.A. & Texas
."
More recently, Hector Gonzalez of Rampart Records, along with Emmy-award-winning cinematographer Jimmy Velarde, have produced a documentary movie "The West Coast East Side Sound", which now immortalizes The Blendells and other pioneering Chicano rock & rollers from the West Coast, including Cannibal & the Headhunters
, Thee Midniters
, The Jaguars, The In Crowd
, Sly, Slick, and the Wicked, Thee Counts, Touch, The Viscounts, The Premiers
, The Montclairs, and Thee Atlantics. "The West Coast East Side Sound" was screened in 2004 in the new Alan and Elaine Armer
Theater on the campus of CSUN (California State University, Northridge).
Blendells guitarist Rudy Valona died on December 26, 2003.
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
brown-eyed soul
Brown-eyed soul
Brown-eyed soul is a subgenre of soul music or rhythm and blues created in the United States mainly by Latino in Southern California during the 1960s, continuing through to the early 1980s. The genre of soul music occasionally draws from Latin, and often contains rock music influences...
group from East Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. They garnered success in 1964 with their Latin-tinged cover of Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
's "La La La La La." During the brief time they were together, they performed at venues such as the famous Shrine Auditorium
Shrine Auditorium
The Shrine Auditorium is a landmark large-event venue, in Los Angeles, California, USA. It is also the headquarters of the Al Malaikah Temple, a division of the Shriners.-History:...
. Their tours included performances in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and the state of Washington. They shared the stage with the Dave Clark 5, Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
, Dick Dale
Dick Dale
Dick Dale is an American surf rock guitarist, known as The King of the Surf Guitar. He experimented with reverberation and made use of custom made Fender amplifiers, including the first-ever 100-watt guitar amplifier.-Early life:Dale was born in South Boston, Massachusetts and lived in nearby...
, The Ventures, The Shirelles
The Shirelles
The Shirelles were an African-American girl group that achieved popularity in the early 1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens , Doris Coley , Addie "Micki" Harris , and Beverly Lee...
, The Drifters
The Drifters
The Drifters are a long-lived American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed to serve as Clyde McPhatter's backing group in 1953...
, The Coasters
The Coasters
The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group that had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with "Searchin'" and "Young Blood", their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producing team of Leiber and Stoller...
, and Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
. Though little known today, The Blendells retain a cult following in West Coast Mexican American communities.
Forty years ago, Chicanos from East L.A. broke the mold of stereotypical Mexican-American musicians and singers, and began performing and recording rock & roll in English—an innovation for its time—re-introducing a Califas music style that was almost lost with the earlier demise of the late Ritchie Valens
Ritchie Valens
Ritchie Valens was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist....
of Pacoima, California.
The Blendells recorded only two singles, “La La La La La” (that is now available in the album Baby Don't Go
Baby Don't Go - Sonny & Cher and Friends
Baby Don't Go is a compilation album released by Reprise Records after Sonny & Cher managed their first major hit. The title track is by Sonny & Cher and three songs by Sonny & Cher are credited as Caesar and Cleo, the duo's previous moniker...
), backed with “Huggies Bunnies” and “Dance with Me,” backed with “Get Your Baby.”
Many in the "West Coast East Side" music community believe the Blendells would have achieved far more success had most of its members not been drafted into the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Rampart Records President (and Vietnam veteran) Steven Chavez stated, "Almost 50% of the artists from the East Side Sound era served in combat roles in Vietnam, losing their innocence to a war in the prime of their youth, and returned to a changed American music scene that pretty much turned their back on them with the advent of new genres like hard rock, heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, punk, disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
and the like. Chicano music has had a vast influence on Americana, with some of the most recorded music in the American Music scene never being credited to the Chicano artists that broke the mold from traditional Spanish-language Mariachi
Mariachi
Mariachi is a genre of music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in Mexico. It is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the historical development of Western Mexico. Throughout the history of mariachi, musicians have experimented with brass, wind,...
and Ranchera
Ranchera
Ranchera is a genre of the traditional music of Mexico originally sung by only one performer with a guitar. It dates to the years of the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. It later became closely associated with the mariachi groups which evolved in Jalisco. Ranchera today is also played...
music, which is still the stereotypical impression that a lot of people have of Mexican-American artists outside of L.A. & Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
."
More recently, Hector Gonzalez of Rampart Records, along with Emmy-award-winning cinematographer Jimmy Velarde, have produced a documentary movie "The West Coast East Side Sound", which now immortalizes The Blendells and other pioneering Chicano rock & rollers from the West Coast, including Cannibal & the Headhunters
Cannibal & the Headhunters
Cannibal & The Headhunters were an American band originating from East Los Angeles, that was known for being one of the first Mexican-American groups to have a national hit record, "Land of a Thousand Dances", recorded on the Rampart label...
, Thee Midniters
Thee Midniters
Thee Midniters were an American group, amongst the first Chicano rock bands to have a major hit in the United States. Also they were and one of the best known acts to come out of East Los Angeles in the 1960s, with a cover of "Land of a Thousand Dances", and the instrumental track, "Whittier...
, The Jaguars, The In Crowd
Tomorrow (band)
Tomorrow were a 1960s psychedelic rock band. Despite critical acclaim and support from DJ John Peel who featured them on his "Perfumed Garden" radio show, the band was not a great success in commercial terms. They were among the first psychedelic bands in England along with Pink Floyd and Soft...
, Sly, Slick, and the Wicked, Thee Counts, Touch, The Viscounts, The Premiers
The Premiers
The Premiers were an American garage band in the 1960s, best known for their 1964 hit, "Farmer John".-Career:The band was formed in 1962 in San Gabriel, California, by brothers Lawrence Perez and John Perez , and neighbours George Delgado and Frank Zuniga...
, The Montclairs, and Thee Atlantics. "The West Coast East Side Sound" was screened in 2004 in the new Alan and Elaine Armer
Alan Armer
Alan A. Armer was an American television writer, producer, and director.Born in Los Angeles, Armer received a bachelor's degree in speech and drama from Stanford University, a master's in theatre arts from UCLA and an honorary doctor's degree from California State University, Northridge.After...
Theater on the campus of CSUN (California State University, Northridge).
Blendells guitarist Rudy Valona died on December 26, 2003.