Redbone is a Native American rock group originated in the 1970s from brothers
Pat and Lolly Vegas. 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 "The Witch Queen of New Orleans" and "Maggie" in the U.S.
but predominately overseas. Their legendary movement and message of peace
still remains strong. 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.
History Originally born in Coalinga, California
near Fresno, brothers Patrick and Candido "Lolly" Vasquez-Vegas moved to
Los Angeles in 1969 to form the group Redbone with mere cents in their pockets
due to Pat winning the first ever singing competition held by Coca-Cola.
He won a recording contract and travel to create a career which he then put off
to move to Los Angeles with his brother Lolly. They began playing local shows on
Hollywood and Sunset Blvd, at local clubs like Gazzari's, as well as writing
and playing guitar and bass on records by Tina Turner, Sonny & Cher, James
Brown, Little Richard, Elvis, and other legendary names.
The name Redbone itself is a Cajun term for a mixed-race person, 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 Vasquez - Vegas were a mixture of Yaqui, Shoshone and Mexican heritage.
The brothers began by performing and recording surf music as the Vegas
Brothers, "because their agent told them that the world was not yet ready to
embrace a duo of Mexican musicians playing surfing music". First as the
Vegas Brothers, then later as the Crazy Cajun Cakewalk Band, they performed
throughout the 1960s at venues on the Las Vegas Strip and appeared on Shindig!
According to Pat Vegas, it was Jimi Hendrix–himself part Cherokee–who
inspired the musicians to form an all-Native American rock group. They
signed as the band "Redbone" to Epic Records in 1969. Hendrix also stated
that Lolly Vegas was his favorite guitar player, Pat his favorite bassist, and
the brothers as his biggest influence in music. The band then consisted of Pat
Vegas, Lolly Vegas, Peter DePoe and Robert Anthony Avila, a Yaqui-Mexican
American, better known by his stage name Tony Bellamy. Their debut album Redbone
was released in 1970. Prior to forming Redbone, Pat and Lolly
Vegas released an album in the mid-1960s entitled Pat & Lolly Vegas at the
Haunted House. Of the twelve songs on the album, six were originals by the
Vasquez-Vegas brothers which gained them huge initial success. Pat and Lolly also
appeared religiously on the 60's hit show "Shindig" and reoccurring
performers! They also released several singles from 1961 to the mid-1960s. One
of them was titled "Robot Walk" / "Don't You Remember" and more making a name for
themselves in early years. In 1967 P.J. Proby recorded his only Top 30 hit "Niki
Hoeky" by Jim Ford, Lolly Vegas and Pat Vegas. The next year, Bobbie Gentry
performed the Cajun-influenced song on The Summer Smothers Brothers Show. Pat
Vegas also wrote songs for legendary names like Aretha Franklin and had a
helping hand in the "Munsters" TV Show theme song collaborating with another
English writer. Redbone played primarily rock music with
R&B, Cajun, Jazz, tribal, and Latin roots. Their first world commercial
success came with the single "The Witch Queen of New Orleans" that peaked at #21
on the Billboard Hot 100 and followed by the single "Maggie" from their second
album, Potlatch. "Come and Get Your Love" followed as a smash #1 hit for
Redbone.(1974, #5 on the Billboard Hot 100). "Come and Get Your Love", written
by Lolly Vegas, remained on the chart for 24 weeks, and was certified gold by
the R.I.A.A. on April 22, 1974. Redbone was also the opening act introducing the
very first Earth Day to the world in Philadelphia along with Senator Muskie.
Their opening song was "Chant 13th Hour" from the "Potlatch" album.
Redbone's music was characterized by the Leslie rotating speaker effect that
Lolly Vegas created and used for his electric guitar amplifier and a "King
Kong" style of drumming developed by drummer Peter DePoe.
The first self-titled album by Redbone was released as a double album in North
America. In Europe it was released both as a double and as a single album on the
Epic label. Their third album, Message from a Drum,
was released in Europe with the title The Witch Queen of New Orleans and
different cover than the one released in the U.S. and Canada.
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 due to lyrical controversy
and then banned by several radio stations due to its confrontation of a
sore subject. DePoe had left this band in 1972. He was replaced by Arturo
Perez, but later by Bellamy's Filipino-Chicano cousin, Butch Rillera
around that point. Following this the band achieved much of their commercial
success. Tony Bellamy left the band in 1977, with Rillera leaving shortly
after. The band's current remaining membership
is led by Pat Vegas, although an array of new members have joined Redbone since
then due to Lolly Vegas suffering a stroke that left him unable to tour with
the band. No member has been official other than Pat Vegas after the original
members were not present. A proposed reunion tour in 2003 did not occur.
There is evidence that suggests the existence of an "imposter band" who was
illegally touring the United States and posing as Redbone under the name "Denny
Freeman". Freeman - who Pat Vegas 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.
On December 25, 2009, Tony Bellamy passed from liver failure at a hospital
in his hometown of Las Vegas, and less than three months later, Lolly Vegas
succumbed to lung cancer at his family home in Reseda, California on March 4,
2010. Redbone has had some limited activity in
recent years in the major public eye, but Pat Vegas continues to tour in
Canada and the US in support of his solo albums, Ambergris," Peacepipe," and
"Speed of Sound" Awards and accolades
Redbone was inducted into the Native American Music Association Hall of Fame
in 2008, as well as the legendary NY Smithsonian in 2013. They were also
honored with vein painted on the largest mural in the US via Fresno CA. On August
30, 2014 Pat Vegas was honored with the Lifetime Achievement "Legend" Award from
the "West Coast American Indian Music Awards."
Redbone has had some limited activity in recent years in the major public eye,
but Pat Vegas continues to tour in Canada and the US in support of his solo
albums, Ambergris and Peacepipe. In 2014, "Come And Get Your Love"
experienced a resurgence in popularity when it was featured in the Marvel
Studios film Guardians of the Galaxy as one of the songs on a mixtape made for
the protagonist, Peter Quill. It was also included on the film's soundtrack
album, which reached the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart.
Members Current members
Pat Vegas - bass, vocals Former members
Lolly Vegas - guitars, vocals Tony Bellamy - guitars, vocals
Peter DePoe - drums, percussion Butch Rillera - drums, percussion
Discography = Studio albums =
Redbone as Epic EGP-501 Potlatch US #99 as Epic E-30109
Message from a Drum US #75 as Epic KE-30815
Already Here as Epic KE-31598 Wovoka US #66 as Epic KE-32462
Beaded Dreams Through Turquoise Eyes US #174 as Epic KE-33053
Cycles as RCA AFL1-2352 One World; later re-edited and re-titled
as Peace Pipe = Live album =
Redbone Live as Avenue/Rhino 71632 = Compilation albums =
Come And Get Your Redbone: The Best Of Redbone as Epic PG-33456
The Best Of Redbone as Dominion/K-Tel 833 [note: re-recordings of their
classic songs] The Very Best Of Redbone as Sony Music
Distribution 4679362 [import] Greatest Songs as Curb 77746
Golden Classics as Collectables 5802 [note: this is a 2LP-on-1CD reissue of
Potlatch and Message From A Drum plus two singles]
To The Bone as Sony Music Special Products 28581
Wet Willie and Redbone: Take 2 as Sony Music Special Products 52777 [five songs
by each band] The Essential Redbone as Epic/Legacy
86072 It's Your World: Redbone's Greatest Hits
Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 [features "Come and Get Your
Love"] = Charted singles =
Maggie b/w New Blue Sermonette US #45 as Epic 5-10670
The Witch Queen of New Orleans b/w Chant: 13th Hour US #21 as Epic 5-10749,
UK #2 When You Got Trouble b/w Jerico US #111
as Epic 5-10839 Come and Get Your Love b/w Day To Day
Life US #5, US R&B #75 as Epic 5-11035 Wovoka b/w Clouds In My Sunshine US #101
as Epic 5-11131 Suzie Girl b/w Interstate Highway 101 US
#108 as Epic 8-50015 = Additional singles =
Crazy Cajun Cakewalk Band CBS Light As a Feather Epic
Message from a Drum Epic Poison Ivy Epic
We Were All At Wounded Knee Epic Hail Epic
Only You and Rock and Roll Epic One More Time Epic
I've Got to Find the Right Woman Epic Give Our Love Another Try RCA
See also The red road
References External links
Official Redbone and Pat Vegas website MySpace - Redbone
Redbone Cajun Funk with a Touch of Latin Soul. -
Redbone history on Mark Guerrero's site = Selected video clips =
Come And Get Your Love on YouTube MAGGIE on YouTube
The Witch queen of New Orleans 1971 on YouTube
Redbone - Wounded Knee on YouTube The Story of Pat and Lolly Vegas on
YouTube La Bamba & Twist and Shout Artist:Pat &
Lolly Vegas on YouTube Pat and Lolly Vegas on Hollywood A Go Go
on YouTube "RonsRockschool Redbone playlist". on
YouTube.