Luis Cardenas

Luis Cardenas is an American drummer who achieved a degree of popularity in the 1980s with both solo work and as a member of rock band Renegade. Renegade was formed by Luis Cardenas in Whittier, Ca. Fact|date=February 2007 and were unusual in being ethnic Hispanics playing rock music. Building a local following and subsequently winning a record contract, the band released the albums "Rock n' Roll Crazy", "Renegade II - On The Run", "Nuns On Wheels" and "Renegade Live". The band sold well in Mexico, Canada, Japan and locally in California, but failed to break into the USA as a whole or Europe, where they remained unknown. Cardenas did achieve some fame in the UK where he participated in a TV show to break the world record for having the world's largest drumkit.

Cardenas however released a solo album called "Animal Instinct", and the first single "Runaway", a cover of a Del Shannon original, became a worldwide hit. This was mainly due to an excellent video that included cameos by Del Shannon and Donny Osmond, which got regular rotation on MTV. Further singles followed, but nothing else capitalised on the initial success, and Cardenas took time off from the music industry. From 1989 to 1993 Cardenas recorded two albums that have not yet been released. In 2000 Cardenas was once again with Renegade and the band was hopeful of regaining past glories, but failed when differences with band members could not be resolved. Luis Cardenas is now working on a new album to be completed in 2007. He has also produced several local bands and is very involved in writing with various artists.

External links

* [http://www.luiscardenas.com/ Luis Cardenas website]
* [http://renegadeusa.com/index1.htm Renegade official website]