Luis Cardenas is a

Latin-American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas a ...

drummer who has been active since the early 1980s, both as a solo act and as a member of the rock band

Renegade Renegade or The Renegade may refer to: Aircraft *Lake Renegade, an American amphibious aircraft design *Murphy Renegade, a Canadian ultralight biplane design *Southern Aeronautical Renegade, an American racing aircraft design Games *'' Comman ...

Renegade

Renegade was formed in California in the early 1980s by Cardenas and the band's manager/producer Kim Richards and were unusual in being ethnic

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

s playing rock music. Widely viewed as teen idols, the band headlined the Saturday nights of the Los Angeles Street Scene Festival in both 1985 and 1986, with audiences of 150,000 in attendance. They released four albums, ''Rock n' Roll Crazy'', ''Renegade II – On the Run'', ''Nuns on Wheels'' and ''Renegade Live'', with their major success coming in California, Mexico and Japan. Renegade played around the world and at music festivals with bands such as

38 Special 38 Special may refer to: * .38 Special The .38 Special, also commonly known as .38 S&W Special (not to be confused with .38 S&W), .38 Smith & Wesson Special, .38 Spl, .38 Spc, (pronounced "thirty-eight special"), or 9x29mmR is a rimmed, cent ...

, Foreigner,

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

and

Night Ranger Night Ranger is an American hard rock band from San Francisco formed in 1979 that gained popularity during the 1980s with a series of albums and singles. Guitarist Brad Gillis and drummer Kelly Keagy have been the band's only constant members, ...

, and in the late 1980s were asked by

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...

to appear on the Texas-New Mexico Border with

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...

and

Lee Greenwood Melvin Lee Greenwood (born October 27, 1942) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He also plays the saxophone. Active since 1962, he has released more than 20 major-label albums and has charted more than 35 singles on the ''Billboa ...

to support Rogers'

Hands Across America Hands Across America was a public fundraising event on Sunday, May 25, 1986, when 5 to 6.5 million people held hands for 15 minutes in an attempt to form a continuous human chain across the contiguous United States. The attempt to have a co ...

effort. In 1990, the band was featured in a 98-minute television special aired on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

internationally, entitled ''Renegade MTV Special''. Renegade reformed in 2000 and was honored in August 2001 at a

David Hasselhoff David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952), nicknamed "The Hoff", is an American actor, singer, and television personality. He has set a Guinness World Record as the most watched man on TV. Hasselhoff first gained recognition on ''The You ...

-hosted event at the

Conga Room The Conga Room is a Los Angeles nightlife and private events location. Founded in 1998, the Conga Room's first location was on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, CA. The Conga Room is now located in Downtown Los Angeles' L.A. Live across from ...

in Los Angeles for record sales in excess of 30 million units worldwide.

Solo projects

In 1986 Cardenas held the world record for having the world's largest drumkit, which he demonstrated on the ''Guinness Hall of Fame Awards'' TV show hosted by

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ' ...

. The same year Cardenas released a solo album entitled ''Animal Instinct''. The first single from the album was a cover of the

Del Shannon Charles Weedon Westover (December 30, 1934 – February 8, 1990), better known by his stage name Del Shannon, was an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known for his 1961 number-one '' Billboard'' hit " Runaway". In 1999, he was ind ...

song " Runaway" and became a hit in the US, peaking at number 83 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The video for the single featured cameo appearances by Shannon and

Donny Osmond Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, dancer, actor, television host, and former teen idol. He first gained fame performing with four of his elder brothers as the Osmonds, earning several top ten hits and gol ...

and cost $500,000 to make, reputedly the most expensive video ever made for a single at the time. It won a nomination for Best Music Video, Short Form at the

29th Annual Grammy Awards The 29th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 24, 1987, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Paul Simon won Album of the Year for ''Graceland'', and Burt Bacha ...

. Cardenas followed "Runaway" with the self-penned "Hungry for Your Love", which featured

Phyllis Diller Phyllis Ada Diller (née Driver; July 17, 1917 – August 20, 2012) was an American stand-up comedian, actress, author, musician, and visual artist, best known for her eccentric stage persona, self-deprecating humor, wild hair and clothes, and e ...

and Cardenas's pet tiger Bundi in the video, but the single did not match the success of "Runaway". The album ''Animal Instinct'' was reissued on March 6, 2012, featuring bonus tracks and the videos for the singles. The re-release of ''Animal Instinct'' was due to precede the release of a new double album by Cardenas entitled ''Generations'' that was to include Cardenas's two sons Nick and Zach Cardenas and was planned for release later in 2012. However, in a press release sent out by Allied Artists on October 15, 2012, it was announced that the album "will not be distributed at this time, and no new date has been established".

References

External links

Luis Cardenas official WebsiteRenegade official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardenas, Luis American musicians of Mexican descent American rock singers Living people Chicano American rock drummers Chicano rock musicians Hispanic and Latino American musicians Year of birth missing (living people)