El Chicano

El Chicano is an American chicano rock and brown-eyed soul group from Los Angeles, California, whose style incorporates various modern music genres including rock, funk, soul, blues, jazz, and salsa. The group’s name is from Chicano, a term for United States citizens of typically Mexican American descent.

El Chicano, originally formed by Freddie Sanchez under the name The VIP’s arose during a period of increasing Chicano consciousness in America. Their initial hit, Viva Tirado, was a jazzy soul rock rendition of Gerald Wilson’s original song about a bullfighter. The song did very well on Los Angeles radio and remained #1 for thirteen straight weeks. Other notable tracks recorded by El Chicano are the funky Tell Her She’s Lovely as well as a cover of Van Morrison’s 1967 hit, Brown Eyed Girl.
Original members of El Chicano include Bobby Espinosa, Freddie Sanchez, Mickey Lespron, Andre Baeza, and John De Luna. During the 1970s, new members Rudy Regalado, Max Garduno, Danny Lamonte, Brian Magness, Jerry Salas, Joe Pererria. joined the group.

The group’s recordings showed a versatile and wide ranging adaptation of many styles of music. “Tell Her She’s Lovely”, featuring the vocals of Jerry Salas, was another Top 40 hit in 1973 on the self-titled LP, El Chicano, that also went gold for the group.