Ritchie Valens (born Richard Steven Valenzuela; May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. During this time, he had several hits, most notably “La Bamba”, which he adapted from a Mexican folk song. Valens transformed the song into one with a rock rhythm and beat, and it became a hit in 1958, making Valens a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement. On February 3, 1959, on what has become known as “The Day the Music Died”, Valens died in a plane crash in Iowa, an accident that also claimed the lives of fellow musicians Buddy Holly and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, as well as pilot Roger Peterson. Valens was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. (More from Wikipedia)
I have written of Ritchie Valens already; he was the first Hispanic rock star and grew up in the San Fernando Valley community of Pacoima. Despite his Anglicized name (his birth name was Ricardo Esteban Valenzuela Reyes), Valens was proud of his heritage and was expressing an interest in making music at the age of 5. He taught himself to play guitar and, at 16, was hired by a local band called the Silhouettes (not the same as the doo-wop group the Silhouettes); he became the frontman when the lead singer moved on. The Silhouettes had a remarkable diversity among its membership, including African-American and Japanese-American members; he shared vocalist duties with two women. Under the name Richard Valenzuela, he was becoming known as the “Little Richard of San Fernando”.
(June 2013/1)
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All three of the men who perished on the day the music died weren’t using their birth names – most obviously in the case of the Big Bopper. As suggested by his manager Bob Keane, Ritchie Valens (born, Anglicized, Richard Steven Valenzuela) got a “t” in his first name and shortened his surname in order to widen his appeal. As to Buddy Holly, “Buddy” could have just been a nickname, but “Holly” also didn’t match up exactly to his birth name Charles Hardin Holley (the dropped “e” was inadvertent, they say).
(August 2013)
