La Mafia

La Mafia
La Mafia's Oscar de la Rosa shaking hands with fans at a concert
Background information
Origin	Houston, Texas, United States
Genres	Tejano
Years active	1980–Present
Labels	Urbana Records
Associated acts	Kumbia All Starz
Website	http://www.lamafia.com
Members
Oscar de la Rosa - vocalist Armando (Mando) Lichtenberger Jr - accordion and keyboards Tim Ruiz - bass Joe Gonzales - drums Jesus Angel - keyboards Viktor Pacheco - guitar

La Mafia is a four-time Grammy Award-winning musical group. It has its roots in the Northside neighborhood of Houston, Texas and has charted a course as a Latin Music band.

History

La Mafia was founded in 1980 by Oscar de la Rosa and Leonard Gonzales (brothers) at Henry’s Night Club, a bar owned by their family in Houston, Tx. De la Rosa, as vocalist, Gonzales, as guitarist, David de la Garza, as keyboardist and background vocals, and Armando Lichtenberger Jr., as keyboardist, accordion player and the band’s producer, were joined by Tim Ruiz Jr. on bass in 1996, Joe Gonzales on drums in 2003 and Viktor Pacheco on Guitar in 2007. The band’s original name was Los Jovenes.

La Mafia, seeking to expand their musical horizons, began touring extensively in Mexico and Latin America beginning in the late 1980s. The practice of Hispanic-American artists performing in Mexico on a large scale was unheard of before La Mafia. Back home, La Mafia has performed in front of three record-setting crowds at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at the Houston Astrodome.

Discography

Since 1993, La Mafia has recorded each of its hits at its own Urbana Recording Studios, including the million-selling "Estas Tocando Fuego" and "Ahora y Siempre". The band has recorded 35 albums and CDs, not including dozens of compilation and greatest hits releases. La Mafia has sold over 8 million records worldwide.

Awards and recognitions

La Mafia received Grammy Awards for its CDs "Un Million De Rosas" and "En Tus Manos" and Latin Grammy Awards for its CDs "Para El Pueblo" and "Nuevamente". It also has received eight Premio Lo Nuestro Awards and 12 Tejano Music Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the latter, numerous Billboard awards and was listed in the top 10 Billboard Latin Artists for the entire decade of the 90s, ranking La Mafia as the most successful Latin artist Houston has ever produced.

La Mafia vs Kumbia All Starz

In the summer of 2008 Oscar De La Rosa, leader of La Mafia challenged A.B. Quintanilla and his group Los Kumbia All Starz to a battle of the bands. A.B. Quintanilla responded by making a video saying that he accepted and that the battle would be held at Robstown, Texas on August 2, 2008. A press conference was held in San Antonio, Texas on July 30, 2008 where both groups answered questions to the fans. The two stages were set side to side and the rules were each group had to sing 3 songs in a row. The battle began as they tossed a coin to see who would sing first. Oscar called heads and heads it was, so he elected A.B. Quintanilla to go first. For his first 3 songs he chose 3 Tejano songs he wrote and he got his two special guest singers Elida Reyna to sing the first two and Jesse Turner of Siggno to sing the third one. Then La Mafia sang "Estás Tocando Fuego" and two more 90's Billboard hits. For Kumbia All Starz's second turn, their lead singer DJ Kane and Ricky Rick performed the hit single "Shhh!" and two other songs with the dancers from DJ Kane's group when he was a solo singer, John and JD. La Mafia then performed with 3 more songs. Kumbia All Starz sang 3 more songs, then A.B. Quintanilla asked Oscar De La Rosa if they could sing one more song, and Oscar agreed, and so Ricky Rick and Melissa Jiménez got on stage and performed the hit song "Rica Y Apretadita". La Mafia then sang 3 of their biggest hits, and after that the crowd was screaming for more, so they sang one more song. At the end of the night La Mafia was declared the winner.^[1]

Members

• Oscar De La Rosa - Vocalist
• Armando Lichtenberger Jr - Accordion & Keyboards
• Tim Ruiz - Bass
• Joe Gonzales - Drums
• Viktor Pacheco - Guitar

Note: Leonard Gonzales, brother of Oscar de la Rosa (Oscar changed his name in the 90s for personal reasons, de la Rosa is his mother's maiden name) was the original lead guitar player and David de la Garza was on the keyboard. It wasn't until later, due to a family spout, that Leonard and Oscar (who were the original founders of La Mafia) decided to part ways.

External links

• Official Website
• Official MySpace
• La Mafia at Allmusic

References