Warfield Richards Red Bow
(June 26, 1948 - March 28, 1993)
was a South Dakota Lakotan known for his music.
Buddy Red Bow was born Warfield Richards in 1948 on Pine Ridge Reservation, the home of the Lakota Sioux, a warrior tribe that had produced legendary chiefs like Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. One of the few Indian tribes to ever fight the US cavalry to a standstill, the Lakota were driven by a fierce pride that refused to submit to colonial domination.
Adopted into the Red Bow family at a young age, Buddy would go on to live a life that in many ways deeply reflected the Native American experience. As a young man, Budd served as a US Marine in Vietnam, a not uncommon path, as Native Americans have the highest percentage of military service out of any racial demographic. After returning from the war, Buddy tried his hand at music and acting, eventually getting involved with political activism.
Although he had some success as an actor with an appearance in the movie Pow Wow Highway where he appeared as a character based on his own life, his greatest impact was in music, where he recorded three albums.
Using an Anglo cultural art form that had long been made their own by the Lakota, Buddy’s first album had such a strong country flavor, that he would often be remembered as a country western singer.
Buddy Red Bow died at the age of 44 from cirrhosis of the liver, likely caused by alcohol abuse.