Valens Died Young, but Music Lives On

He was only a 17-year-old kid from Pacoima, but Richard Stephen Valenzuela--better known as Ritchie Valens--made a place for himself in American music history.

In the last year of his life, Valens performed on “American Bandstand,” crisscrossed the country touring and recorded three top 50 songs.

In the late 1950s and early ‘60s, he was the first and most successful performer in a series of Latino rock ‘n’ roll stars, which included Eddie Quinteros and Cannibal and the Headhunters.

Valens’ music has continued to influence. In 1987, the East L.A. band Los Lobos recorded a cover of Valens’ most beloved song, “La Bamba,” that made it to No. 1. “La Bamba” was also the name of the hit 1987 movie about Valens’ life.

Valens was a self-taught guitar player whose musical influences were derived from a melding of the traditional Mexican music his grandparents exposed him to and the rhythm and blues he heard at Pacoima Junior High School.

Bob Keane of Del-Fi Records heard Valens sing at one of the many San Fernando record hops where he performed and signed him to a record deal.

The first song Valens recorded, “Come On, Let’s Go,” broke into the top 50 in 1958. In October of that year, Valens recorded “Donna” and “La Bamba,” two songs released on the same single.

They were also the songs Valens would be remembered for after he and rock stars Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper were killed in a February 1959 plane crash.

Ritchie Valens is buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills.