Los Lonely Boys to play the ECC Arts Center Oct. 6
Grammy Award-winning band Los Lonely Boys will perform on Saturday, Oct. 6. The performance begins at 7 p.m. in the ECC Arts Center, Building H on Elgin Community College's Spartan Drive campus, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.
The trio of siblings - vocalist/guitarist Henry, bassist/vocalist Jojo and drummer/vocalist Ringo Garza - rose to fame with its 2003 debut album, which featured the hit single "Heaven."
The story of how the Garza brothers rode their bluesy "Texican rock" sound from San Angelo, Texas, to worldwide fame is one of rock's great Cinderella tales.
The story of how they've persevered in the face of subsequent challenges is just as compelling.
Their strong brotherly bond helped them through those rough spots - just as it did when they made the hard decision to step out from under their father's musical leadership and form their own band after performing with him since childhood.
The sons of Enrique "Ringo" Garza Sr. are a second-generation sibling band. Their dad and his brothers played conjunto as the Falcones before the elder Garza formed a band with his sons.
They were still teens when he moved them to Nashville. Los Lonely Boys' big break came after the brothers returned to Texas and began playing as a trio in Austin clubs in the early 2000s.
One day, Willie Nelson's nephew heard some demos. Next thing they knew, Nelson himself showed up at a gig. Nelson showcased the band at Farm Aid, fronted recording time at his famed Pedernales Studio, and even guested on their 2003 self-titled album.
Propelled by the band's No. 1 single, "Heaven," that album sold over two million copies, spent 76 weeks on the Billboard Top 200 album chart, and earned the band a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group.
In the 15 years since that album launched the band to fame, the brothers have continued to record and tour extensively even as they encountered and overcame challenges along the way.
In 2013, they canceled 43 shows and paused work on their last album, "Revelation," after Henry was seriously hurt when he fell from a stage in Los Angeles.
A couple of years previous, vocal cord nodules had forced Jojo to stop singing for months. And in 2015, their mother passed away.
Their scare with Henry caused all three brothers to re-examine not only how they make music, but how they conduct their lives. "The whole experience was a wake-up call," Jojo admits. "It reminded us of what's really important."
Once again, they affirmed that's family. And music. For this trio, the two are inseparable. If anything, Jojo says, life's upheavals have tightened their bond even more. "We stick together," he adds, "and we're trying to pass on that feeling of brotherhood, of familia, in all the music we make."
Tickets to Los Lonely Boys are $38-$49. Tickets are available for purchase online at tickets.elgin.edu and by phone at (847) 622-0300.
The ECC Arts Center can be found on Facebook at facebook.com/eccartscenter and on Twitter @eccartscenter.