Saturday Night Live Wiki
Advertisement

Los Lobos (pronounced [los ˈloβos], Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños. The band rose to international stardom in 1987, when their version of Ritchie Valens' "La Bamba" peaked at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, and also topped the charts in the United Kingdom, and several other countries. Songs by Los Lobos have been recorded by Elvis Costello, Waylon Jennings, Frankie Yankovic,[1] and Robert Plant.[2] In 2015, they were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[3] In 2018, they were inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. They are also known for performing the theme song for Handy Manny.

The band's first noteworthy public appearance occurred in 1980 at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, when they were hired by David Ferguson and CD Presents to open for Public Image Ltd. On September 28,1983, the band released an extended play entitled ...And a Time to Dance, which was well received by critics but sold only about 50,000 copies. Slash Records/Warner Bros Records was not confident enough in Los Lobos to release a standard 10-song LP. So , they released a 7-song debut LP . 7 months after the release, the group won a Grammy Award for Best Mexican American Song in 1984[7] However, the sales of the EP earned the group enough money to purchase a Dodge van, enabling the band to tour throughout the United States for the first time.[7] Los Lobos returned to the studio in the summer of 1984 to record its first major-label album, How Will the Wolf Survive?[8] The album's title and the title song were inspired by a National Geographic article entitled "Where Can the Wolf Survive," which the band members related to their own struggle to gain success in the United States while maintaining their Mexican roots.[7]

Los Lobos were exposed to Rock and Roll audiences when they opened for The Clash, a punk/new wave group, and they later opened for a Los Angeles band the Blasters, with influences in rhythm and blues and rockabilly.[1] Steve Berlin, who was born in Philadelphia, played saxophone for the Blasters then left the group to join Los Lobos. When he joined the band, Berlin spoke about his similar record collection to the other members of Los Lobos, where they shared loves for George Jones and Hank Williams.[1]

The film Colors includes "One Time, One Night" in the opening credits, although the song was not included on the soundtrack album. In 1986, members of Los Lobos appeared alongside Tomata du Plenty in the punk rock musical Population: 1. In 1987, they released a second album, By the Light of the Moon. In the same year, they recorded some Ritchie Valens covers for the soundtrack of the film La Bamba, including the title track, which became a number one single for the band plus "Come On Let's Go" and "Donna" which also charted. In 1988, they followed with another album, La pistola y el corazón, featuring original and traditional Mexican songs. The album never peaked above #189 in the pop charts, but it did garner Los Lobos their second Grammy Award for Best Mexican American Album in 1990. Also in 1988 they contributed their cover of "I Wan'na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)", to the Disney tribute album Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s the band toured extensively throughout the world, opening for such acts as Bob Dylan, U2 and the Grateful Dead.

Los Lobos returned with The Neighborhood in 1990, and the more experimental Kiko (produced by Mitchell Froom) in 1992. In 1991, the band contributed a lively cover of "Bertha", a song which they often performed live, to the Grateful Dead tribute–rain forest benefit album Deadicated. In 1994 they also contributed a track, "Down Where the Drunkards Roll", to the Richard Thompson tribute album Beat the Retreat.

On the band's twentieth anniversary they released a two-CD collection of singles, outtakes, live recordings and hits, entitled Just Another Band from East L.A.

In 1995, Los Lobos released the prestigious and bestselling record Papa's Dream on Music for Little People Records along with veteran guitarist and singer Lalo Guerrero. The album garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Children's Album. The band also scored the film Desperado. The album track "Mariachi Suite" won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance and was their 3rd Grammy Award. They have been nominated for Grammy Awards a total of 12 times.

In 1996, they released Colossal Head. In spite of the fact that the album was critically acclaimed, Warner Brothers decided to drop the band from their label. Los Lobos spent the next few years on side projects. The band contributed along with Money Mark to the AIDS benefit album Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin, produced by the Red Hot Organization, on which they performed "Pepe and Irene."

Los Lobos signed to Mammoth Records (a music division of The Walt Disney Company) in 1997 and released This Time in 1999. Mammoth also reissued 1977's Del Este de Los Angeles. In 2000, Rhino/Warner Archives released the boxed set Cancionero: Mas y Mas.

In 2001, Los Lobos was awarded the El Premio Billboard Award.[9]

The band released their Mammoth Records debut, Good Morning Aztlan in 2002. They released The Ride in 2004. The Ride featured Tom Waits, Mavis Staples, Bobby Womack, Elvis Costello and others covering Los Lobos music along with the band.

Los Lobos released its first full-length live-show DVD Live at the Fillmore in 2004. The DVD captures the band's act over a two-day period in July at the famed San Francisco venue.

In September 2006, Los Lobos released The Town and the City (Mammoth Records) to much critical acclaim.[10][11] The album's lyrics deal with Louis Perez's childhood in East Los Angeles, while the music provides complex and original soundscapes reminiscent of their previous release Kiko. Cartoonist Jaime Hernandez did the artwork for the album.[12] The album is told in the first person, with each song serving as an episodic step.[13]

In 2007, Los Lobos performed a cover of Bob Dylan's "Billy 1" (from Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid) for the soundtrack to Todd Haynes's film I'm Not There. Also in 2007, they participated in Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (Vanguard), contributing their version of Domino's "The Fat Man."

In 2009, the group under contract to Disney Music released an album of Disney covers, Los Lobos Goes Disney (Disney Sound/Walt Disney Records)[14] and participated in a tribute album to the late Doug Sahm, Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm (Vanguard). The same year, on October 13, they also played on the South Lawn of the White House during the "In Performance at the White House: Fiesta Latina" concert, celebrating Hispanic musical heritage.[15][16]

In 2010, Cesar Rosas and David Hidalgo were featured artists in the Experience Hendrix Tour. On August 3, 2010, the group released their first album of new material in 4 years, entitled Tin Can Trust, through Shout! Factory, which features two Spanish-language tracks.[17]

In 2011, the group was awarded the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.[18][19]

In 2013, the group toured Europe supporting Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

On October 9, 2015, Los Lobos was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the first time.[3]

In 2017, Los Lobos appeared in the multi award-winning documentary film The American Epic Sessions directed by Bernard MacMahon, where they recorded, “El Cascabel”,[20] live direct-to-disc on the first electrical sound recording system from the 1920s.[21] During their session, the belt holding the 100Ib weight that powered the 1924 cutting lathe broke and Jack White had to rush to an upholstery shop to repair it.[22][23]

Los Lobos was inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame in 2018.[24]

On October 4, 2019, Los Lobos released Llegó Navidad, an album of Christmas music from Central America and South America with Mexican folk songs, as well as an original song by Hidalgo and Pérez. On January 1, 2020, Los Lobos performed as the finale at the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.

The band was a recipient of a 2021 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.[25]

On July 30, 2021, Los Lobos released their 18th album, Native Sons, on New West Records. It is a collection of 12 songs written or performed by California based musicians (including Jackson Browne, The Beach Boys, The Blasters, Thee Midniters, Willie Bobo, and Lalo Guerrero) with one song written by Hidalgo and Pérez, the title track "Native Sons".[26]

Band co-founder Francisco González died on March 30, 2022, at the age of 68.[27]

On April 3, 2022, at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards which was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas,[28] Los Lobos won their fourth Grammy Award for Native Sons, this time in the Best Americana Album category.

Advertisement