Los Lonely Boys is a trio of brothers from Texas who combine rock and blues with the traditional music of their Mexican heritage. Their self-titled debut made it to the Top 10 on Billboard magazine's albums chart.
Los Lonely Boys have one of the hits of the summer of 2004 in the U.S. with "Heaven." The group members say it's like "a rock & roll prayer being answered." The three Garza brothers: Henry, JoJo and Ringo say they were influenced by rockers Los Lobos and Carlos Santana, as well as 1950s Latin rock pioneer Richie Valens, and late Texas guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan.
When they were children, the Garza brothers started their musical career by playing in their father's traditional Mexican band. They learned how to play music by ear and their harmonies fell naturally into place. When they were in their teens, the trio decided to go their own way, with the hope of becoming the Mexican version of the legendary Beatles. Ringo Garza even shares the first name of Beatles drummer, Ringo Starr.
Brother Henry comments, "My dad was always into rock and country apart from playing Latino music. He was our biggest influence. He just told us the sky was the limit, so we would listen and keep playing and learning and practicing through our whole childhood."
Los Lonely Boys were big winners at this year's Austin Music Awards, sweeping the categories of Band of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year for "Heaven."
"People always ask us what kind of music we play. I tell them it's a cross between Stevie Ray [Vaughan] meets Santana, Jimi Hendrix meets Richie Valens, or The Beatles meet Ronnie Milsap," Henry Garza explains. "I call it my 'music burrito' theory. We've made our own tortilla with all the knowledge of all the great musicians out there. We put them inside the tortilla, make our own burrito and sell it to the world. Hopefully, they'll come back for seconds. We've been chasing this dream since we were little dudes." A few weeks ago, Los Lonely Boys had another dream come true when they played with their hero, Carlos Santana, at the legendary Fillmore in San Francisco. In September, the band will start a tour of music festivals, theaters and state fairs.