Ritchie Valens

Ritchie Valens remains etched in memory as the pioneering Hispanic figure to attain rock stardom, though his name endures chiefly because of the fatal 1959 plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper during a Midwest tour. By then he had only begun to reveal his promise in rock and roll, coming within one position of the top spot with the number two single “Donna” while fusing rock and Latin sounds on its nearly as successful B-side, “La Bamba.” Evaluating the career that never unfolded proves elusive, since he was merely seventeen and had barely started releasing records, yet his songs have continued to resonate for decades.

Raised as Ricardo Esteban Valenzuela Reyes in a Mexican-American home in the San Fernando Valley, he took up several instruments in childhood before directing most of his energy toward the guitar, mastering a right-hand technique despite being left-handed. His tastes ranged widely, encompassing Little Richard and rockabilly alongside traditional Mexican forms such as mariachi, and this skill earned him a place in the local band the Silhouettes at age sixteen, where he later assumed the role of frontman. In 1958, while performing at a neighborhood movie theater, he was spotted by producer Bob Keane, who placed him on the Del-Fi label and urged him to shorten his surname to Valens for broader commercial reach. That July he cut “Come on Let's Go” in a Los Angeles studio, and the track rose to number forty-two on the national charts.

Valens left high school by the close of 1958 to concentrate on a career that accelerated once his follow-up single “Donna” reached number two. Its inventive flip side, “La Bamba,” a Mexican folk number recast in rock style and performed entirely in Spanish, also enjoyed strong popularity, distinguished by aggressive guitar lines and the unusually prominent electric tone of the Danelectro bass. He was soon celebrated as one of rock and roll’s teen idols and joined the early-1959 Winter Dance Party package tour with Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Dion & the Belmonts, and Frankie Sardo. The itinerary called for twenty-four Midwestern dates in three weeks, but the single bus used by all the acts lost its heater days into the run, turning the long hauls between shows even more grueling.

After the February 2 performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy Holly chartered a flight to the next stop and boarded it with Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. Minutes after takeoff the plane crashed, killing pilot Roger Peterson and all three passengers; Valens was seventeen. At the time of his death he had recorded enough material for roughly two albums plus some rudimentary live tapes from a junior-high gig, much of it apparently still in demo stages. In later years other singers adopted his Mexican-American approach to rock, notably Chan Romero, creator of “Hippy Hippy Shake,” who also recorded for Bob Keane’s Del-Fi label and employed some of the same backing musicians, as well as Chris Montez. During the 1980s and 1990s the L.A.-based Latino rock band Los Lobos was frequently cited for carrying forward Valens’ influence, while groups such as Los Lonely Boys sustained the tradition of Chicano rock into the twenty-first century. The 1987 film La Bamba, whose soundtrack prominently featured Los Lobos, presented his story with Hollywood gloss and thereby introduced his legacy to millions, even while introducing the usual factual liberties in its account of his brief life.