Search results
Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959), [3] better known by his stage name Ritchie Valens, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens died in a plane crash just eight months after his breakthrough. [4]
May 13, 2021 · Mexican-American rock & roll pioneer Ritchie Valens would have been 80 this year. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images. Ritchie Valens was just 17 years old when he changed the course of...
- Isabela Raygoza
May 9, 2024 · Ritchie Valens was an American singer and songwriter and the first Latino rock and roll star. His short career ended when he died at age 17 in the 1959 plane crash in which Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper also perished.
- La Bamba. La Bamba was actually released as the B side to Donna, but it’s since emerged as Valens’ signature tune. Valens adapted the song from a traditional Mexican folk tune, the oldest recorded version of which was released under the name of El Jarocho by Alvaro Hernández Ortiz in 1938.
- Donna. According to Song Facts, Valens wrote Donna for his childhood sweetheart, Donna Ludwig. They met at San Fernando High and stayed together until Valens’ death.
- Come On, Let’s Go. Come On, Let’s Go was written by Valens and released on his self-titled debut album. It was a chart success, peaking at No. 42 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in late 1958.
- My Darling is Gone. When Bill Keane was tasked with creating a second posthumous Richie Valens album, he had a problem. All of the usable material had already been taken by the first album, leaving Keane to cobble together an entire album out of demos and rehearsal tapes.
Teenage performers like Ritchie Valens began to influence the course of popular music; his double-sided smash hit ‘Donna’/’La Bamba’ dominated the charts in December 1958. But, unlike rock’n’roll, Ritchie Valens did not survive to face the Sixties.
Apr 2, 2014 · Ritchie Valens was a Mexican American singer and songwriter influential in the Chicano rock movement. He recorded numerous hits during his short career, most notably the 1958 hit "La Bamba."
Jan 27, 2023 · Ritchie Valens, born Richard Steven Valenzuela, was a Mexican-American singer-songwriter who left an indelible mark on the music industry. His brief career, which spanned less than two years, has become legendary, and he is now widely recognized as one of the founding father of rock and roll.
