Text: Daniel Salas
Chris Montez is a rock and roll Chicano musician from Hawthorne, California whose career started in the late 50’s. His main musical influence, like many little Chicano kids all over California at the time, was none other than Ritchie Valens. When Montes first saw Valens live as a headliner at a local dance, he pushed his way up to the front to get a glimpse of his idol, according to the book Chicano Soul by Ruben Molina. After briefly meeting Valens, Montez was convinced that rock and roll music was his destiny and soon created Chris Montez and the Invincibles in 1958 with Mike Garcia on drums, Bill Boyd on guitar and Montez on the lead vocals and guitar. The small combo had no bass player because they were hard to come by in his neighborhood.
Being a small group was an advantage when it got time to getting paid for gigs since the money was split only between the three, unlike many of the other local bigger groups that had like nine musicians. The group played gigs mainly in East Los Angeles and Pomona along side other Chicano recording groups like the Romancers, Cannibal and the Headhunters and The Heartbreakers. Chris Montez band was a bit rawer than the more polished bigger Chicano soul bands in the East Los Angeles scene, but still fit right in since they had the cool party vibe. The first demo ever recorded by Montez, Forgive Me with the b-side She’s My Rockin Baby, eventually led to a record contract with Monogram Records.
The single Let’s Dance is two and a half minutes of rock and roll that fits somewhere in between Eddie Cochran’s Come on Everybody and Buddy Holly’s Peggy Sue. A good mid-tempo groover, Let’s Dance gave the dudes confidence to ask the ladies in joining them to cut that rug. The basic organ lead of in house musician Ray Johnson, gives the song that killer frat-rock touch making this a dance floor favorite. Lets Dance did go to #4 in the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and #1 in the UK. The song was later covered by Slade, T-Rex and The Ramones.
The b-side, You Are the One, is a tender ballad that sounds really close to Montez idol Ritchie Valens. “If it wouldn’t have been for him, I wouldn’t have had any aspirations to be a singer.” Says Montez in the book Chicano Soul, “I had no direction. But he gave me direction.” While Let’s Dance gets the party moving, You Are the One winds the mood down in the usual style of similar 45s coming out with the party a-side and the romantic b-side.
Montez went on to tour with The Miracles, Sam Cooke and the Drifters in the US and was also in high demand in the UK where Let’s Dance was also a hit. Montez went on to sign to A&M records and recorded with producer Herb Albert who convinced him to take a softer pop approach rather than rock and roll. Montez went on to make several other hit singles such as Call Me, and is on top as one of the most successful Chicano artists.
