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Musica chicana es el musica de una mezcla de el jazz, rock, y blues deriva de el Mexicano Americanos.

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John y Lawrence forma un bande de gareje en 1962 en San Gabriel, California que toca el musica Chicano. El nombre Premiers venir de la madre de John y Lawrence de el  pelicula Premiere. Las Premiers es el primero Chicano grupo para tener exito.

La groupa empieza a practica en el jardin trasero de John y Lawrence, y Billy Cardenas (el gestion de las bandas del lado este), Billy gusta el musica y poner el grupo en escena. Las personas empieza a gusta el cancion Farmer John mucho y estan el cancion mas popular de las Premiers. El grupo forma un acuerdo con Warner Bros de el cancion de Farmer John.

Las personas en el bande- John Perez, Lawrence Perez, George Delgado, Frank Zuniga, Mickey Lespron.

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El Musica es sobre el personas de Chicana común que compartían con la igualdad y la justicia.  También Nueva Mexicanos está en el Estado Unidos quiere una nueva forma de expresarse.

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Ritchie Valens se un compositor y guitarrista de el musica chicano. Ritchie se un primera generacion de Mexican Americano que habla un poco espanol.

En el febrero 3, 1959 Ritchie muerto en a los 17 anos en un eccidente aereo

Ritchie Valens hice el cancion La Bamba y estan numero uno en 1987 de el version de Los Lobos graba en el nombre de Valens

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by Mark Guerrero

The story of the Premiers is similar to that of Cannibal & the Headhunters and as fate would have it, their careers would intertwine. The Premiers, like Cannibal & the Headhunters, grew up on the east side of Los Angeles in the barrios, formed a musical group, and within a couple of years had a record that made the national charts. In the Premiers' case, their record, "Farmer John," reached #19 in July of 1964. They have the distinction of being the first eastside Chicano rock group to achieve national success in the 60s. This helped open the door for the Blendells, Cannibal & the Headhunters, and El Chicano who followed.

The Premiers were born in San Gabriel, California in 1962 when the Perez brothers, John and Lawrence, decided to form a band. John, who had been banging on pots and pans for years went to a pawn shop and purchased a Pearl drum set for $100, while John bought a Sears Silvertone guitar. George Delgado, who lived a few blocks away, came from a musical family and played guitar. Another friend from the neighborhood, Frank Zuniga, played bass and rounded out the group. They practiced in the Perez brothers' back yard and soon started drawing crowds to their rehearsals. One of the kids watching them rehearse was Mickey Lespron, later to be lead guitarist of El Chicano. They began to play house parties, weddings, and dances, wearing standard cholo attire, khaki pants, Pendletons and Sir Guy shirts. Lawrence stresses they were not juvenile delinquents or in gangs, but just liked to dress this way.

John and Lawrence's mom came up with the name Premiers based on the idea of a movie premiere. She heard about Billy Cardenas, who was managing popular Eastside bands, and gave him a call. He came out to see them and liked what he heard. Billy first got them to change their appearance on stage. They soon found themselves wearing matching suits and playing better venues, like the Paramount Ballroom, the Rhythm Room in Fullerton, and Rainbow Gardens in Pomona. At times, they backed up artists such as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Kathy Young, and Chris Montez. Cardenas introduced the band to record man Eddie Davis and brought them a song he wanted them to record for Eddie's label. It was called "Farmer John," and\\\which had been previously recorded by Don & Dewey. At first Lawrence didn't like it, but after a few rehearsals and a new arrangement he changed his mind. Believing they didn't have a strong singer, the lead vocal was done by John and George singing in unison. Contrary to what it said on the label, "Farmer John" was recorded at Stereo Masters in Hollywood, not "live" at the Rhythm Room in Fullerton, California. Girls from the Chevelles car club were used to make background noise on the record to give it a live sound. According to Lawrence, it was Eddie Davis' idea to put photos of the band member's faces on the record label of the 45, which was unheard of at the time.

After the success of "Farmer John," Eddie Davis made a deal with Warner Brothers Records to take the record to the next level of marketing and distribution. Warner Brothers wanted an album by the Premiers right away to maximize profits on their hit single, so the band quickly recorded one, using the same formula with the car club girls giving it the sound of a live album. Lawrence was not happy with the album and even today feels that only one song captures what the Premiers were really about, a Johnny Ace song, "Cross My Heart" sung by George Delgado. Nevertheless, on the strength of their top 20 hit, they set out on the road. Their first tour was a Dick Clark "Caravan of Stars" show that started in St. Louis and continued through the Midwest and East Coast. Other artists on the bus tour included, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Bobby Freeman, Major Lance, Fabian, Gene Pitney, Brian Hyland and the Crystals. The Premiers were teenagers at the time and could hardly believe what was happening to them. Their second tour was in the South, where they opened for the Rolling Stones in Alabama and for the Kinks and the Zombies at other stops. They also encountered racial segregation, for example, dealing with separate restrooms for black and white and not being sure which one to use. They often traveled with Cannibal & the Headhunters, backing them on their songs as well as performing their own. Being fellow Chicano musicians from East L.A. and mere teenagers, the Premiers and Headhunters bonded and became like brothers on the road. The Premiers third tour was with the Dave Clark Five and included New York, Chicago, Minneapolis and various cities in California. The Premiers had several tenor sax players over the years, Joe Whiteman, Phil Ruiz, and for their tours, Tony Duran. Baritone sax was played by Whiteman on "Farmer John" and Joe Urzua on their album. During the second tour, Frank Zuniga was drafted and went to Viet Nam, where he was assigned to artillery. He was replaced by Billy Watson, formerly of the Rhythm Playboys. In 1968, Lawrence was drafted and also went to Viet Nam, where he was a machine gunner on a ground unit. As Lawrence put it, "the war broke us up."

My band at the time, Mark & the Escorts, played at the "West Coast East Side Revue" at the Shrine Auditorium in 1965 with the Premiers and all the other top Eastside groups on the bill. We played a couple of other dances with the Premiers on the bill as well, but I don't remember seeing them play because we often had other gigs on the same night as did they. I didn't get to meet the Premiers until around 1995 when pioneer rocker Chan Romero took me to an afternoon block party at Lawrence's house, where I jammed with Chan, John, and Lawrence in his front yard. In 1999, I went to another gathering at Lawrence's house in honor of "Yo Yo" Jaramillo of Cannibal & the Headhunters. Former members of the Premiers, the Blendells, the Romancers, and Headhunters were there and we all played together in different combinations. The highlights of the day were when the Headhunters sang "Land of a Thousand Dances" and all four original Premiers played "Farmer John" in the small living room. I have since gotten to know the Premiers better while interviewing them for this article and a better group of guys would be hard to find. In February of 2001, the Premiers performed at an event I helped organize to honor record producer Billy Cardenas. (Click here to read about the event.) They still occasionally do a gig as the Premiers and Lawrence and George occasionally play with other bands on weekends. Recordings by the Premiers are available on several compilation CDs, including, "The East Side Sound 1959-1968" on Dionysus Records and "East Side Sound, Vol. 1, 2, 3 & 4" on Varese Sarabande Records.

This article was based on interviews by Mark Guerrero with two of the four original Premiers- Lawrence Perez and George Delgado in March of 2000.

Updates

On June 22, 2003, I attended a concert at Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas, CA where John and Lawrence Perez performed as the Premiers backed by the East L.A. All Star Revue. (Click here to read about it.) On November 1, 2003, I performed on the bill with John and Lawrence performing as the Premiers, once again backed by the East L.A. All Star Revue, at the Latin Oldies Festival 2003 in San Bernardino, CA. (Clickhere to read about it.)

In 2006, I interviewed founding Premier George Delgado as part of a radio show I did on the "Eastside Sound" of the 60s. It was part of my radio series "Chicano Music Chronicles," which aired on crnlive.com and is now archived on my website. (Click here to hear it.) In early 2007, I interviewed three founding members of the Premiers, Lawrence Perez, John Perez, and George Delgado for an exhibit called "American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music," which opened in October of 2007 at the Experience Music Project museum in Seattle, Washington. The interviews will also find a permanent home in the museum's oral history archives.

mp3 Sound Byte
Farmer John
The Premiers 1964

The Premiers (1964)

The Premiers & Mark Guerrero (1999)

Premiers You Tube Video
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The Premiers: 1960s Chicano Rock Hit Makers

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In the Premiers' case, their record, "Farmer John," reached number 19 in July of 1964

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Bio

Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero was born December 24, 1916, in what is now known as the Barrio Histórico area of Tucson, Arizona, one of eight surviving children of a family of 27. He learned the rudiments of guitar playing from his mother, Concepción Guerrero, a traditional singer and guitarist. After teaching him a few basic chords, his mother taught him Mexican songs, and Guerrero taught himself to play the family piano. He remembered that as a child, he entered a music contest in which all the schools in town participated. "We competed with high school kids and we won-two girls and myself. The little school from the ghetto. We won and we won first prize. That was the first time I really got some confidence and I felt like somebody."

Growing up, Guerrero did not venture outside his Mexican American neighborhood until he entered junior high school and began learning about the Anglo world of Tucson. When he was 16, his father moved the family back to Mexico. While there, Guerrero learned new songs from a cousin, Danny Guerrero. The family was unhappy in Mexico and returned to Tucson within a few months.

In 1933, Guerrero left high school to help support his family. During the height of the Depression, his father was working only three days a week for the Southern Pacific Railroad. To earn extra money, Guerrero began playing guitar and singing in bars with two friends, brothers José and Soledad Salas. After Gregorio Escalante joined the group, they named themselves Los Carlistas. Because there were so few paying jobs, they went from bar to bar playing for tips.

In 1937, Guerrero and his group moved to Los Angeles. They began singing, along with other popular singers of the era, for a radio show broadcast from the stage of the old California Theater on Main Street. This exposure led to more jobs. They played at Omar's Dome on Western Avenue, had a small part in the movie Boots and Saddles, with Gene Autry, and recorded songs for Vocalion Records.

After two years in Los Angeles, the group returned to Tucson, where it was well received. In 1939, the Tucson Chamber of Commerce sponsored the group's first trip to New York for a performance at Radio City Music Hall on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour radio program. Guerrero said, "For Mexicans, New York City in 1939 was like the other side of the world - nobody had ever seen any Mexicans." Los Carlistas won the talent contest and continued working for Major Bowes playing Mexican music for about six months.

That same year, Guerrero married his first wife, Margaret Marmion of Tucson. After his successful stint in New York, they moved back to Los Angeles, but their stay was brief. One of his fellow musicians drowned, and Guerrero returned to Tucson to play on his own. He went to work at the El Charro club, playing for wages plus tips. He sang there for over a year and a half, until the United States entered World War II in December 1941. Guerrero wanted to join the Army but didn't want to leave his wife and young son, Danny. He chose to do "essential war work" at Convair in San Diego during the day and entertain at military camps and hospitals at night. When the war ended, he and his young family went to Los Angeles, where Guerrero joined another group, El Trio Imperial. He also recorded for Imperial Records. After he had played with El Trio Imperial for nearly three years, the record company took Guerrero out of the trio and made him a soloist.

Guerrero's first solo recording, a 78-rpm disk made in 1948, featured him singing Augustine Lara's " Pecadora" and Manuel S. Acuna's " Mentira." The record hit the top of the charts and established him as a major recording artist in both the United States and Mexico. He began alternating engagements at Los Angeles nightspots with tours throughout the West and Midwest. In 1956, record and song royalties enabled him to buy his own nightclub on Whittier Boulevard. Over the next 12 years, the club in East Los Angeles featured some of the best Mexican and Mexican American entertainers. Guerrero sold the club in 1968 and opened another in Tucson, but it wasn't as successful.

In 1973, the Delgado family invited him to open its new club in Rancho Mirage, California, near Palm Springs. A year later, Guerrero remarried and settled with his new wife, Lydia, and her two children in Palm Desert. He continued to play nightly at the club through the 1970s.

In addition to his career as a performer, Guerrero was a composer. Imperial Records recorded more than 200 of his original compositions. He was multilingual and wrote lyrics in English, Spanish, and pachuco, a dialect of 1940s Southwestern Chicano youth. Moreover, his composition style evolved over the course of his career, beginning with romantic songs and topical corridos (ballads) and growing to include canción cómico (comic songs) and parodies. His lyrics often contained messages of social awareness, most notably proclaiming the significance of Mexican American culture.

His compositions about the pachuco era produced a string of hits and generated interest in the pachuco dialect. Some of these songs, including " Los Chucos Suaves" and " Vamos a Bailar," were used in the musical play and film Zoot Suit. Through his lyrics, Guerrero has also addressed social and political issues, such as discrimination, labor struggles, and the Vietnam War.

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Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero was born December 24, 1916, in what is now known as the Barrio Histórico area of Tucson, Arizona, one of eight surviving children of a family of 27. He learned the rudiments of guitar playing from his mother, Concepción Guerrero, a traditional singer and guitarist.

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Porque el Musica de Chicano es importante de El movimiento Chicano

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Porque el Musica de Chicano es importante de El movimiento Chicano

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La música chicana es importante para el movimiento de los chicanos porque ayudó a llamar la atención sobre la herencia chicana y sus luchas por la igualdad y la justicia. Algunos ejemplos de canciones que ayudaron son Rolas de Aztlán y Yo Soy Chicano.

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El musica Chicano se mas importante en el 1950s y 1960 para exhibir las chicanos. La música chicana es un subgénero que se define por la etnicidad de los artistas. Los tres estilos principales de la música chicana son un estilo único de rock and roll con ciertos artistas mexicanos, en el siglo 1700s el rock and roll de la música chicana era similar a blues y el jazz, y por último en el siglo 1800s la música chicana era más similar a R&B.

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Lalo Guerrero es una personas quien fue guitarrista y cantante y también fue un activista laboral conocido por su fuerte influencia en artistas de música latina posteriores.