Play Ritchie Valens Radio
Ritchie Valens
519,639 plays (110,455 listeners)
Listening now: HipHipHoooray
Ritchie Valens (Richard Steven Valenzuela; May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959) was a Mexican American singer, songwriter and guitarist.
A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens’ recording career lasted only eight months. During this time, however, he scored several hits, most notably “La Bamba”, which was originally a Mexican folk song that Valens transformed with a rock rhythm and beat that became a hit in 1958, making Valens a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement.
Valens died in a plane crash outside Clear Lake, Iowa while on the Winter Dance Party tour. Also killed in the crash were the pilot of the plane and rock and roll stars Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper. The song American Pie, by Don McLean is a tribute to the three musicians who died, and a reflection of the changes in music since their deaths. In the song he calls the day of their death “the day the music died,” a phrase that came from newspaper headlines that announced the tragedy on February 3, 1959
Brought up hearing traditional Mexican mariachi music, as well as flamenco guitar, R&B and jump blues, by the age of 5 he expressed an interest in making music of his own. He was encouraged by his father to take up guitar and trumpet, and it is also known that he later taught himself the drums. One day, a neighbour came across Ritchie trying to play a guitar that had only two strings. He re-strung the instrument, and taught Ritchie the fingerings of some chords. While Ritchie was left-handed, he was so eager to learn the guitar that he mastered the traditionally right-handed version of the instrument.
A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens’ recording career lasted only eight months. During this time, however, he scored several hits, most notably “La Bamba”, which was originally a Mexican folk song that Valens transformed with a rock rhythm and beat that became a hit in 1958, making Valens a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement.
Valens died in a plane crash outside Clear Lake, Iowa while on the Winter Dance Party tour. Also killed in the crash were the pilot of the plane and rock and roll stars Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper. The song American Pie, by Don McLean is a tribute to the three musicians who died, and a reflection of the changes in music since their deaths. In the song he calls the day of their death “the day the music died,” a phrase that came from newspaper headlines that announced the tragedy on February 3, 1959
Brought up hearing traditional Mexican mariachi music, as well as flamenco guitar, R&B and jump blues, by the age of 5 he expressed an interest in making music of his own. He was encouraged by his father to take up guitar and trumpet, and it is also known that he later taught himself the drums. One day, a neighbour came across Ritchie trying to play a guitar that had only two strings. He re-strung the instrument, and taught Ritchie the fingerings of some chords. While Ritchie was left-handed, he was so eager to learn the guitar that he mastered the traditionally right-handed version of the instrument.
Top Albums
-
La Bamba
Ritchie ValensBuy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
-
Greatest Hits
Ritchie ValensBuy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
-
Best of Ritchie Valens
Ritchie ValensBuy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon $42.39
- eBay Search
-
The Ritchie Valens Story
Ritchie ValensBuy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $9.99
- 7digital $7.77
- iTunes $9.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $9.96
- eBay Search
Shoutbox
-
katia111 wrote:
La Bamba
-
PhoenixBloom wrote:
I'm also loving 'Little Girl' & 'High Tone' what class tunes!
-
PhoenixBloom wrote:
Hurry Up <3 Alot of his songs are great, shame he died so young! :(
-
thailandsongs wrote:
Ritchie Valens is the best one of the songs artists of the world that I like.
-
Tychinka wrote:
Donna Forever!!!!!!!!!!!!! =)
-
alltheway49ers wrote:
yep your right and the big bopper too
-
JAMESisCreepy wrote:
what a loss.
-
Opir wrote:
Like rockabilly, psychobilly, garage rhythms and simillar tunes? Check out brand new uncomercial off stream music group Cazumbi (http://www.lastfm.pl/group/Cazumbi)
-
beto213 wrote:
QUE VIVA
-
MaximSagan wrote:
I like how the two musicians he died alongside are at the top of his similar artists list.
-
Cherrysyrup wrote:
loooove him
-
SANLEGAS wrote:
la bamba is music from veracruz, mexico.
-
morning_napalm wrote:
love him, love him, love him
-
Dunk_a_roos wrote:
yo no soy marinero soy capitan
-
peeves111 wrote:
OOOOH DONNA
-
deathmagnetic wrote:
la bamba is great
-
JAMESisCreepy wrote:
"this one's for the criminal element in hear tonight..."
-
Reckless_Rebell wrote:
Ritchie will never be forgotten! His music is still awesome till this day!
-
poor-de-chirico wrote:
Yo no soy marinero, soy capitan...
-
Sussy_0458 wrote:
aww xD <3
Videos
See more
Listeners
-
xtremo
Top Listener
-
foxmulder666
Top Listener
-
Ivelina_
Top Listener
-
kazglum
Top Listener
-
pGUINp
Top Listener
-
Pulvis
Top Listener
Recent Activity
-
maureen0789, yerbuaubrey, RubyTueday and 26 other people added Ritchie Valens to their libraries. 1 minute ago
-
Katynaa tagged Ritchie Valens with oldies and rock and roll. Saturday morning
-
met-allican, obmuj, realmac1973512 and 1 other person added Ritchie Valens to their libraries. Saturday morning
-
RaphaelTheThird tagged Ritchie Valens with rock, rockabilly and rock and roll. 7 days ago
-
Hank-Hankee added Ritchie Valens to Hank-Hankee’s library. 7 days ago
-
Sebat0330 tagged Ritchie Valens with 50s and rock and roll. 7 days ago
-
mountaingnat and awogelli added Ritchie Valens to their libraries. 7 days ago
-
PhillipWOgle tagged Ritchie Valens with rock and oldies. 7 days ago
-
PhillipWOgle, mygranny_2000, Ellebring and 8 other people added Ritchie Valens to their libraries. 7 days ago
-
Nightwalker22 added Ritchie Valens to Nightwalker22’s library. 10 days ago
Related Journals
-
My charts
by Reckless_Rebell |
7 Dec 2009 | Add comment
-
Septiembre, Mes Patrio
by tinosoft89 |
2 Sep 2009 | Add comment
-
Best Albums of the Late Fifties (1956-1959)
by thomas10 |
17 Aug 2009 | 2 comments
Groups (18)
-
"Rock This Joint"
69 members
-
Rockabilly
1,525 members
-
I don't give a heck if you don't like my music
957 members
-
Southern Country Rock Metal
301 members
-
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
212 members
More Information
- Links
- Labels
