[5] In 1972, Rudy and Steve Salas formed Tierra and their self-titled debut album was recorded.
By the mid-1970s the band consisted of the Salas brothers, Rudy Villa on reeds, Kenny Román on drums and Latin-percussion, Conrad Lozano on bass, Aaron Ballesteros on drums and vocals, Alfred Rubalcava on bass and Leon Bisquera on keyboards.
[8] In 1981, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times Rudy Salas was quoted as saying "Sometimes I couldn't feed my family, I'm going out to get a legitimate job."
The Tierra band led by Steve Salas was booked for three nights at the Conga Room.
An argument developed over the line up, and Steve Salas backed out two weeks before the concert was to take place.
Band member Isaac Avila died at age 49 of a brain hemorrhage on August 30, 2009.
[14] Bassist Steve Falomir died due to a stroke on January 21, 2012 [15] in Los Angeles.
[16] Steve Salas died on February 10, 2022, at the age of 70 after a two-year battle myeloma and also contracting COVID-19 in the time leading up to his death.
[21][22][23] DW3 aka Down With Three, that consists of (former lead singer of Tierra), Damon Montelongo, and Eric Mondragon.