Eddie Serrano; Revived ‘Cannibal’ Rock Band

Eddie Serrano, who attempted to restructure and revive the rock group Cannibal and the Headhunters in the early 1990s, has died. He was 51.

Serrano died Tuesday at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center of injuries he suffered Aug. 17 when he was struck while riding his motorcycle near Monterey Road and Huntington Drive.

A news article about Serrano’s injury in The Times on Monday and reports by other news media incorrectly stated that Serrano was an original member of the pioneering Latino group that flourished in the mid-1960s.

That group, organized by Francisco M. “Little Cannibal” Garcia, gained national fame when it recorded “Land of 1000 Dances” which ranked No. 30 on the Billboard pop charts in 1965. The quartet went on to open for the Beatles’ U.S. tour that same year, earning status for the Eastside Latin-Motown fusion sound they epitomized.

The original band, four friends from the East Los Angeles Ramona Gardens housing project, consisted of Garcia, Richard “Scar” Lopez and Bobby “Rabbit” Jaramillo and his brother, Joe “Yo Yo” Jaramillo. Their identity is confirmed in a recently published book written by David Reyes and Tom Waldman, “Land of a Thousand Dances: Chicano Rock ‘n’ Roll from Southern California.”

Garcia died in 1996. Lopez and the Jaramillo brothers recently appeared together at Jacks Sugar Shack, reviewed by The Times in May, and are working on a CD.

According to Reyes and Waldman, the original group disbanded in late 1967 or 1968. Garcia re-formed it in the 1970s and 1980s, employing a variety of singers, including Serrano.

In the 1990s, Serrano took over the name Cannibal and the Headhunters, with none of the original 1960s members, and appeared at such venues as the Fourth of July Fiesta in Fountain Valley.

Serrano suffered massive head injuries in the Aug. 17 and had been in critical condition.

A spokesman for Lopez and the Jaramillos said they were “saddened by Mr. Serrano’s tragic accident.”