Redbone is a Native American rock group originated in the 1970s from brothers Pat and Lolly Vasquez. They reached the Top 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1974 with their #1 hit single, “Come and Get Your Love”. The single went certified Gold selling over half a million copies. Redbone achieved hits with their singles “Alcatraz”, “The Witch Queen of New Orleans”, “Wovoka”, and “Maggie” in the United States, but predominately overseas. Redbone is known and accredited in the NY Smithsonian as the first Native American rock/Cajun group to have a #1 single internationally and in the United States. (More from Wikipedia)
Probably the best-known Native American rock band is Redbone, who had a half-million–selling single in 1974, “Come and Get Your Love” that still gets a lot of radio play. This song is at the top of the playlist on the website for Native American Music Association & Awards.
Redbone was formed in 1969 by two brothers from Coalinga, California, Patrick Vasquez (bass and vocals) and Candido “Lolly” Vasquez (guitar and vocals). They took the names Pat Vegas and Lolly Vegas in order to downplay the Latin American origin of their real surname (even though Las Vegas is also Spanish, meaning “meadows”). Before starting Redbone, the brothers released an album on Mercury Records in the mid-1960’s called Pat & Lolly Vegas at the Haunted House; and they appeared in the 1967 film, It’s a Bikini World, which has the distinction of being the only beach-party genre movie to be directed by a woman, Stephanie Rothman.
The two brothers also had some early success as songwriters. In 1967, P. J. Proby had his biggest U. S. hit song with the Top 30 release “Niki Hoeky” that was written by Pat Vegas, Lolly Vegas and Jim Ford; Bobbie Gentry performed the song in 1968 on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
Jimi Hendrix – who also has Native American blood – convinced them to organize an all–Native-American band. The two brothers added Peter DePoe (drums) and Tony Bellamy (lead guitar, piano, vocals).
The band name Redbone is adapted from a Cajun term for “half-breed” and highlights the mixed ancestry of the bandmembers. Pat Vegas and Lolly Vegas have Yaqui, Shoshone and Mexican heritage. Peter DePoe is descended from six different Indian tribes – Northern Cheyenne, Arapaho, Chippewa, Siletz, Rogue River Tututni, and Iroquois – and also has German and French ancestry. Tony Bellamy has Yaqui and Mexican American blood.
The music by Redbone also has a mixed ancestry; while primarily a rock band, there are R&B, Cajun, jazz, tribal, and Latin influences as well. Peter DePoe is credited with pioneering the “King Kong” style of drumming, and Lolly Vegas played improvised jazz-influenced guitar; he is one of the first guitarists to use the Leslie rotating-speaker effect in his amplification set-up.
Redbone released a total of seven albums between 1970 and 1977; “Come and Get Your Love” is on their fifth album, Wovoka. The band had two earlier successful singles also, “Maggie” (1970) and “The Witch Queen of New Orleans”, which reached #21 in 1971.
In 1973, Redbone recorded the politically oriented “We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee”. The Wounded Knee Massacre was the last major battle between American Indian tribes and the U. S. Cavalry; the battle had gained a higher profile in the American consciousness with the 1970 publication of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown’s acclaimed overview of American history (particularly the Old West) from a Native American perspective.
Also, earlier in 1973, members of the activist group American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied the Pine Ridge Reservation near Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Russell Means (Oglala) – who died in October 2012 – is the best-known member of AIM and is arguably the most famous Native American of the past 100 years. Means was also an actor – he appeared in the 1992 film, The Last of the Mohicans – and released several albums in a variety of musical genres, including his version of hip-hop that he called “Rap-aho”.
“We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee” – whose lyrics pointedly end “we were all wounded by Wounded Knee” – was initially withheld from release in the U. S. and then was banned by several American radio stations. The song was a hit in Europe, however, charting in several countries and reaching #1 in the Netherlands.
Peter DePoe was replaced on drums in 1972 by Arturo Perez and then by Tony Bellamy’s Filipino/Mexican American cousin, Butch Rillera. Another former Redbone drummer, Danny Spanos (also known as George Spanos) had a Top 40 hit in 1983 as a solo artist with “Hot Cherie”; he also played drums on the theme music for the hit television show, Starsky and Hutch. Redbone was inducted into the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2008.
The Southern hard rock band Blackfoot also has strong Native American roots and chose the band name to highlight this, though they are not so well known for their heritage as Redbone.
(August 2013)
