Saturday, March 06, 2010

Redbone Lead Singer Lolly Vegas Died At Age 70

Lolly Vegas, lead singer and guitarist with Redbone, died of lung cancer Thursday, March 4, 2010 at his home in Reseda, California. He was 70. Lolly, whose real name was Lolly Vasquez, was diagnosed with lung cancer after being hospitalized with a stomach aneurysm in January. He had suffered a stroke in 1996 that forced him to leave the band. Lolly and his brother, Pat formed Redbone with brothers Anthony "T-Bone" Bellamy and Peter DePoe in Los Angeles in 1969. The name came from a Cajun term for a mixed-race person. Their first, self-tiled, album came in 1970 but it was their second, that yielded the #45 single, "Maggie," early the next year. It was followed by two more chart hits-- "The Witch Queen Of New Orleans" (#21-1972) and "Come And Get Your Love" (#5-1974). The group was inducted into the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2008. T-Bone died of liver failure just last Christmas at the age of 63.