5 Students, 1 Quest: Entertainment Journalism Through Blogging

Ruben Perez Ramos, born in Sugarland, Texas, is currently the head of a family legacy that has been going strong for over 80 years. This legacy, also known as El Legado, is heavily influenced by traditional Mexican routes and is now seated at the top of Tejano music.

According to the Ruben Ramos Web site, the Ramos musical legacy began in post-World War I Texas. Ruben’s uncles began performing in 1919 as Juan Manuel Perez and the Serenaders. Between 1919 and 1941, the Serenaders, also known as Los Serenateros, included all nine of Ruben’s uncles during various years. When World War II began, five of the Perez brothers entered the military. Ruben’s grandmother proudly displayed a small banner with five stars, each one representing one of her sons that served during the war. This is when the Serenaders took a break.

During this time, Ruben’s father, Alfonso Ramos Sr., worked the cotton fields and the railroads. At family gatherings, he played the fiddle while his mother, Elvira Perez, played the guitar. At the end of World War II, Ruben’s uncles returned and continued the family legacy. Uncle Justin reformed the band as Justin Perez and His Ex-GIs. After only a few years, the band had established themselves as top-notch; they had sit-down horns, dark suits and a sound that fit well with the times. This was the end of any regular day-job for Ruben and his five siblings.

When Inez, Elijio, Alfonso, Ruben, Joe and Roy came along, picking cotton was how the bills got paid. However, the talent that this group possessed led them to a career in music.

In 1947, Ruben’s sister Inez became the band’s singer. In his early teens, Ruben’s older brother Alfonso Ramos Jr. became the next sibling to join the group. The band became known as the Alfonso Ramos Orchestra in the mid-1950s. Ruben continued to sing with the band on weekends, even after he landed a “good job” at an insurance company in the state of Texas.

In 1969, Ruben’s brother Roy made the effort to spread the family’s legacy. Soon after, Ruben joined him as the new band’s lead singer. According to the Web site, Alfonso’s orchestra was at the height of its success, and Ruben had the ability to make the most out of the talent of the Ramos brothers. He formed what would later be known as the Mexican Revolution. It was at this point when he began to realize that he had to either quit music or go into it full-time.

“He jumped into it all the way and never looked back because music was and is his life,” Emilio Hernandez, a long-time friend of Ruben’s and a previous singer in the band, said. “Music was what he grew up loving, and this greatly influenced his decision.”

In a previous interview, Ruben picked the name Mexican Revolution “because, among other reasons, the ’70s saw the emergence of the Chicano and civil rights movements.” During this time, the band played the Chicano circuit that ran from Dallas-Fort Worth to the Rio Grande Valley and recorded many albums under independent record labels. By 1981, the term “Tejano” had become the new name for the music, and Ruben changed the band’s name to the Texas Revolution because, according to the Web site, “he felt Tejanos were getting an identity in Texas.”

According to Hernandez, the name was changed back to the Mexican Revolution in 2004.

“He did this to remind himself of the beginning,” Hernandez said.

Ruben and his band have been the recipients of many awards. In 1998, Ruben was inducted into the Tejano Music Awards Hall of Fame. That same year, he was the winner of the Best Male Performance award at the Tejano Music Awards. He was given the Video of the Year in 1999 for “Como un Suspiro.”

-Rachel