Thee Midniters were an American rock group, among the first

Chicano rock Chicano rock is rock music performed by Mexican American (Chicano) groups or music with themes derived from Chicano culture. Chicano Rock, to a great extent, does not refer to any single style or approach. Some of these groups do not sing in Span ...

bands to have a major hit in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. They were one of the best known acts to come out of East Los Angeles in the 1960s, with a

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

of "

Land of a Thousand Dances "Land of a Thousand Dances" (or "Land of 1000 Dances") is a song written and first recorded by American rhythm and blues singer Chris Kenner in 1962. It later became a bigger hit in versions by Cannibal & the Headhunters and Wilson Pickett. A ve ...

" in 1964 and the

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

track "Whittier Boulevard" in 1965. Thee Midniters were among the first rock acts to openly sing about

Chicano Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...

themes in songs such as "Chicano Power" and "The Ballad of

César Chávez Cesar Chavez (born Cesario Estrada Chavez ; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merged ...

" in the late 1960s. The band was promoted by Dick "Huggy Boy" Hugg on local radio station

KTYM KTYM (1460 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish language Catholic radio format from ESNE Radio. Licensed to Inglewood, California, United States, the station serves the Los Angeles area. KTYM is owned by El Sembrador Ministries of Chats ...

in Inglewood, California and also by his fill-in Godfrey Kerr. Huggy Boy was also a popular DJ on

KRLA KRLA (870 kHz) "AM 870 The Answer" is a commercial AM radio station broadcasting a talk radio format. Licensed to Glendale, California, it serves Greater Los Angeles and Southern California. The station is owned by Salem Media Group, which also ...

Achievements

Thee Midniters are a 1960s band from East Los Angeles influenced by "surf music to rhythm and blues to Mexican music," embodying a Chicano identity, a "mixture of Mexican heritage but living in America." The band was one of the first to integrate horns, an unusual combination of trombone and sax, congas, keyboards and electric guitars to produce a sound similar to better known bands popular in the late 1960s such as

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and

Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura Ny ...

. Most band members attended Salesian High School located near the corner of

Whittier Boulevard Whittier Boulevard known as Stephenson Avenue (before 1920) is an arterial street that runs from the Los Angeles River (where it continues into Downtown Los Angeles as 6th Street) to Brea, California. The street is one of the main thoroughfares in ...

and

Soto Street Soto Street is a major north-south thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California, connecting the southernmost neighborhoods of the Eastside, as well as the southeastern suburbs of Vernon and Huntington Park. It was first designated and paved as an ...

in the

Boyle Heights Boyle is an English, Irish and Scottish surname of Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin. In the northwest of Ireland it is one of the most common family names. Notable people with the surname include: Disambiguation *Adam Boyle (disambiguation), ...

section of Los Angeles. George Salazar, the drummer on the first album, attended Garfield High School. Rhythm guitar player, Roy Marquez, also attended Garfield High School. Danny LaMont, the drummer on all subsequent recordings attended

Montebello High School Founded in 1909, Montebello High School is a public high school which is part of the Montebello Unified School District, and has an enrollment of approximately 2,600 students in grades 9-12. Its campus is located in Montebello, California, a subur ...

and sax player Larry Rendon attended

Cantwell High School Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary High School (CSHM), is a private Roman Catholic high school located in Montebello, California, precisely on the border of East Los Angeles and Montebello. It is now owned and operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese ...

. Thee Midniters were largely school trained, highly professional and musically sophisticated in comparison to many of the surf bands of the day. Willie Garcia and Thee Midniters were regarded in the East LA of the 1960s as

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

on a smaller scale, though they sounded (and still sound) more like a big, soul-gospel review group with a hefty dose of salsa.

Casey Kasem Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio personality, who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably '' American Top 40''. He was the first actor to voice Nor ...

, a well-known disc jockey, said, "They were the best band I ever hired". Kasem filled a regular slot on KRLA top forty radio in the 1960s and promoted concerts and dances at the time. Thee Midniters continue with a combination of original and new members and appeared in Raven Productions'

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

pledge break special ''

Trini Lopez Trinidad López III (May 15, 1937 – August 11, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and actor. His first album included a cover version of Pete Seeger's "If I Had a Hammer", which earned a Golden Disc for him. His other hits included ...

presents the Legends of Latin Rock'', along with

El Chicano El Chicano was an American brown-eyed soul group from Los Angeles, California, whose style incorporated various modern music genres including rock, funk, soul, blues, jazz, and salsa. The group's name was from Chicano, a term for United States ...

Tierra Tierra may refer to: Astronomy *Earth in the Spanish and Asturian language Computing and games * Tierra (computer simulation), a computer simulation of life by the ecologist Thomas S. Ray * Tierra Entertainment, now known as AGD Interactive, a ...

and Gregg Rolie (of

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...

and

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 ...

fame) in the spring of 2009.

Band members

Thee Midniters were an East LA band. For a brief period of time the lead singer for the group was

Little Ray Little Ray also known as Ray Jimenez, is an American Chicano rock and brown-eyed soul musician, prominent in the 1960s. Jimenez was born and raised in Delano, California, and later moved to East Los Angeles. Jimenez briefly sang with Thee Midnite ...

aka Ray Jimenez. In 1964, Jimenez left the group. Willie Garcia, aka "Little Willie G.", then took over as the lead singer. Garcia took obscure soul ballads such as "The Town I Live In" or "Giving Up On Love" and gave them his own special delivery. Garcia, after years away from the band, returned in the 1990s. The lead guitarist was George Dominguez, whose forte was blues rock. Cesar Rosas, later to gain fame as one of the leaders of

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, 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, ...

, would stare at George on stage to see how Thee Midniters' guitarist played leads and riffs that Rosas could not figure out on his own. Roy Marquez played rhythm guitar. Trombonist Romeo Prado was the band's music arranger and was a huge influence on the overall sound of Thee Midniters. Thee Midniters have continued to play through the decades under the leadership and management of bassist Jimmy Espinoza and saxophonist Larry Rendon, the two original players remaining in the line-up from the original 1960s group. Since 2006, they have featured Greg Esparza as lead vocalist along with longtime Midniter mainstays through the years such as Bob Robles on lead guitar, Aaron Ballesteros playing drums, Bobby Navarrete on sax, Bobby Loya on trumpet, Samuel Trujillo on trumpet and valve trombone and Bob Luna playing keyboards.

Eddie Torres Eddie Torres (born July 3, 1950), also known as "The Mambo King", is a salsa dance instructor and choreographer. Torres' technique developed from various sources including Afro-Cuban son, mambo, and North American jazz dance. His dancing is charac ...

was the Producer of every original album that was recorded in the 1960s; he also designed their album covers. Moreover, Eddie Torres was Thee Midniters Manager for many years.

The name

Thee Midniters adopted the unusual "Thee" to avoid the possibility of a legal challenge from the established R&B group of a somewhat earlier era,

Hank Ballard Hank Ballard (born John Henry Kendricks; November 18, 1927 – March 2, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter, the lead vocalist of The Midnighters and one of the first rock and roll artists to emerge in the early 1950s. He played an inte ...

's "

The Midnighters The Midnighters were an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan. They were an influential group in the 1950s and early 1960s, with many Rhythm and blues, R&B hit records. They were also notable for launching the career of lead singer Hank B ...

Recordings

In 1962 Lil' Ray & The Midniters recorded "Loretta" and "My Girl" for

Tony Hilder Anthony J. Hilder (1935 - April 26, 2019) was an American author, film maker, talk show host, broadcaster, news correspondent and former actor. In the late 1950s to the mid-1960s he was also a record producer, producing music mainly in the sur ...

Impact Impact may refer to: * Impact (mechanics), a high force or shock (mechanics) over a short time period * Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US Science and technology * Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event * Impact ...

label. The song was actually a title change of the

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

composition "

My Guy "My Guy" is a 1964 hit single by Mary Wells for the Motown label. Written and produced by Smokey Robinson of The Miracles, the song is a woman's rejection of a sexual advance and affirmation of her fidelity to her boyfriend, who is her ideal an ...

" which was a hit for

Mary Wells Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s. Along with The Supremes, The Miracles, The Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and the F ...

. In 1964 they released a cover of "

" which had been a hit by both

Chris Kenner Christophe Kenner (December 25, 1929 – January 25, 1976) was an American, New Orleans-based Rhythm and blues, R&B singer and songwriter, best known for two hit singles in the early 1960s, "I Like It Like That (Chris Kenner song), I Like It Li ...

and

Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the ''Bill ...

. In 1969, they released the single "Chicano Power".

Discography

Studio albums

* Thee Midniters – Chattahoochee Records C-1001 (Mono) – 1965 * Love Special Delivery – Whittier W-5000 (Mono), WS-5000 (Stereo) – 1966 * Unlimited – Whittier W-5001 (Mono), WS-5001 (Stereo) – 1967 * Giants – WS-5002 (Stereo) – 1969

Lil' Ray and The Midnighters singles

* "Loretta" / "My Girl" –

30 – 1962

Thee Midniters singles

* "

Land of a 1000 Dances "Land of a Thousand Dances" (or "Land of 1000 Dances") is a song written and first recorded by American rhythm and blues singer Chris Kenner in 1962. It later became a bigger hit in versions by Cannibal & the Headhunters and Wilson Pickett. A ve ...

" (Parts 1 & 2) / "Ball of Twine" – Chattahoochee 666 – 1965 (#67 US Billboard) (#42

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

) * "

Heat Wave A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the ...

" / "Sad Girl" – Chattahoochee 674 – 1965 * "Heat Wave" / "Sad Girl" – Chattahoochee 675 – 1965 * "Whittier Blvd." /" Evil Love" – Chattahoochee 684 – 1965 (#127 US Billboard) * "I Need Someone" / "Empty Heart" – Chattahoochee 693 – 1965 * "

It's Not Unusual "It's Not Unusual" is a song written by Les Reed and Gordon Mills, first recorded by a then-unknown Tom Jones, after having first been offered to Sandie Shaw. He intended it as a demo for her, but when she heard it she was so impressed with h ...

" / "That's All" – Chattahoochee 694 – 1965 * "Brother, Where Are You?" / "Heat Wave" – Chattahoochee 695 – 1965 * "Are You Angry?" / "I Found a Peanut" – Chattahoochee 706 – 1966 * "Love Special Delivery" / "Don't Go Away" – Whittier 500 – 1966 * "It'll Never Be Over for Me" / "The Midnite Feeling" – Whittier 501 – 1966 * "Dragon-Fly" / "The Big Ranch" – Whittier 503 – 1966 * "Never Knew I Had It So Bad" / "The Walking Song" – Whittier 504 – 1967 * "Jump Five and Harmonize" / "Looking Out a Window" – Whittier 507 – 1967 * "Chile Con Soul" / "Tu Despedida" – Whittier 508 – 1967 * "Breakfast on the Grass" / "Dreaming Casually" – Whittier 509 – 1967 * "Make Ends Meet" / "You're Gonna Make Me Cry" – Whittier 511 – 1967 * "The Ballad of Cesar Chavez" (Part 1) / "The Ballad of Cesar Chavez" (Part 2) – Whittier 512 – 1967 * "Chicano Power" / " Never Goin' to Give You Up" – Whittier 513 – 1967

References

External links

* * *
Little Willie G. Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2019) {{DEFAULTSORT:Midniters, Thee Musical groups from Los Angeles American artists of Mexican descent Whittier, California American musicians of Mexican descent Chicano rock musicians Garage rock groups from California Hispanic and Latino American musicians