Los Lobos formed in East Los Angeles in 1973, when guitarist David Hidalgo and drummer Louie Pérez, both students at Garfield High School, started playing together. They brought in Cesar Rosas and Conrado Lozano and spent years working weddings and quinceañeras around East LA before saxophonist Steve Berlin joined the lineup, rounding out the band that still tours today.
Their sound mixes rock and roll with cumbia, norteño, and traditional Mexican son, and it earned them a Grammy for the EP …And a Time to Dance. Their cover of Ritchie Valens' "La Bamba" went to number one worldwide in 1987, and the following year they won a second Grammy for La Pistola y El Corazón, a record built entirely around mariachi and Tejano instrumentation. By 1992 they released Kiko, the album critics still point to as their high-water mark.