Luis Cardenas

Luis Cardenas is a Latin-American drummer who has been active since the late 1980s, both as a solo act and as a member of the rock band Renegade.

Early work with Renegade

Renegade was formed by Cardenas and the band's manager/producer Kim Richards and were unusual in being ethnic Hispanics playing rock music. Deney Terrio, host of Dance Fever introduced Renegade in what is believed to be their first national television appearance as being from "Whittier, California". 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, United Kingdom and locally in California, but did not enjoy the same level of success throughout the US as they did internationally. In the United States, the band was widely viewed as teen idols, appearing in Tiger Beat, 16 Magazine, BOP Magazine and television programs, such as Dance Fever, which often overshadowed their musical prowess. The band was successful enough in the United States, to headline music festivals with bands such as 38 Special, Foreigner, Journey and Night Ranger. Renegade toured throughout the world in their own Learjet, and was popular enough in the late 1980s to be asked by Kenny Rogers to appear on the Texas-New Mexico Border with Lionel Richie and Lee Greenwood to support Rogers' Hands Across America effort. Renegade was the Saturday night headline attraction for the Los Angeles Street Scene Festival in both 1985 and 1986, with audiences of 150,000 in attendance. In 1990, the band was featured in a 98-minute television special aired on MTV internationally, entitled "Renegade MTV Special." Cardenas reprised his original "Let It Out" drum solo during the MTV Special. The band was honored in August 2001 at a David Hasselhoff hosted event at the Conga Room, in Los Angeles for record sales in excess of 30 million units worldwide.