Patrick "Pat" Vasquez-Vegas (born March 17, 1941) is a

Mexican-American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

musician of

Yaqui The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are a Native American people of the southwest, who speak a Uto-Aztecan language. Their homelands include the Río Yaqui valley in Sonora, Mexico, and the area below the Gila River in Arizona, Southwestern United Stat ...

/ Shoshone descent, vocalist, writer, and producer of Redbone, known for their hit singles "

Come and Get Your Love "Come and Get Your Love" is a song by American rock band Redbone. The song was originally released as a promo track under the name "Hail" and was later featured on their fifth album, ''Wovoka'' (1973), under its current name. The song was rel ...

", "

The Witch Queen of New Orleans "The Witch Queen of New Orleans" is a 1971 song by Redbone. The single was released from Redbone's third album '' Message from a Drum'', which is also titled ''The Witch Queen of New Orleans'' in its European release. The song peaked at No. 2 in ...

", "Maggie", and "We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee". He has played in numerous ensembles which include Pat and Lolly Vegas,

The Avantis The Avantis were a surf group from Los Angeles, California that was active from around 1963 to 1964. They recorded some singles on a couple of labels. They are known for their 1963 surf rock instrumental, "Wax 'Em Down". Background The group was ...

, and Redbone. Vegas, along with his Redbone bandmates, was featured in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian for being the first rock/Cajun group of Native American ancestry to have a No. 1 single.

Background

Pat Vegas was born in

Coalinga, California Coalinga ( or ) is a city in Fresno County and the western San Joaquin Valley, in central California about 80 miles (128 km) southeast of Salinas. It was formerly known as ''Coaling Station A'', ''Coalingo'', and ''Coalinga Station''. The ...

. He was originally known as Patrick Vasquez-Vegas. Both Pat and his brother Candido "Lolly" Vasquez-Vegas played in local bands. They changed their name to Vegas when they came to Los Angeles in 1960 to work as musicians. Vegas started out as a member of the ''Shindig'' house band. Later he performed with his brother Lolly as The Vegas Brothers. After that they formed the group Redbone which had the 1974 hit, "

Career

In 1961, Vegas released a single, "I Wanna Be A Movie Star". The following year, "That Smile" b/w "The Best Girl in the World" was released on the Unity label.45Cat �
Pat Vegas – Discography
/ref> Pat and Lolly led a band called

. The line-up included drummer

Mike Kowalski Mike Kowalski (born July 28, 1944) is an American drummer, percussionist and musicologist. He is best known as a longtime touring and session drummer for the rock band the Beach Boys. Early career Mike Kowalski was born in Hollywood, Los Ange ...

and guitarist Danny Hamilton. They became a support act for the

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

. The Avantis worked closely with

Judd Hamilton Judd Hamilton is an American singer, musician, former band leader, writer, film producer, actor, inventor, company director. As a musician he has recorded for the Dolton, Liberty, American International, United Artists and RCA Victor labels. He ...

(Older brother of Dan Hamilton) who was the arranger and co-composer on their records. In 1963, they had a minor hit with " Wax 'Em Down". On 12 October 1963 the record reached 36 in the Canadian charts. In 1969, along with his brother Lolly, rhythm guitarist Tony Bellamy and drummer Pete DePoe, he formed the band Redbone which produced the hit songs, "Maggie", "The Witch Queen of New Orleans" and "Come And Get Your Love".

Later years

Vegas was featured in the 2017 film ''Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World'', a documentary which explores the influence that Native Americans had on rock ’n’ roll. In April 2018, CBC Music announced that Vegas as well as Ansley Simpson and Indian City were to perform at the CBC Indigenous Music Awards in Winnipeg in May. Also, Vegas was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in Redbone which inspired many Native American artists to find success in mainstream genres.''ChrisD.ca'', May 19, 2018 �
Entertainment » Musicians Celebrated at Indigenous Music Awards
/ref>

Solo discography

Albums

*''Speed of Sound'' (2013)
(as "Ambergris")

Singles

References

External links

Punchland: Interview: Pat Vegas of Redbone

Discogs: Pat Vegas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vegas, Pat American people of Shoshone descent American people of Yaqui descent Mexican bass guitarists Male bass guitarists Living people Surf musicians Mexican rock musicians Rock bass guitarists People from Fresno, California 1946 births Redbone (band) members The Avantis members Mexican male guitarists