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Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13
1941–February 3 1959), better known as
Ritchie Valens, was a pioneer of rock and roll
and, as a Mexican-American born in Los Angeles,
California, became the first Hispanic
American|Hispanic rock and roll star. 

Valens' hits included "Come On, Let's Go",
"Donna", and "La Bamba (song)|La Bamba"; the
latter became the title of a 1987 in film|1987
movie about his life (see La Bamba (movie)|La
Bamba), which introduced Lou Diamond Phillips as
Ritchie and co-starred Esai Morales as his older
half-brother Bob Morales.

Valens was a pioneer of Chicano Rock|Hispanic rock
and influenced the likes of Chris Montez and
Carlos Santana.

In early 1959, Valens was traveling the Midwest on
a multi-act rock and roll tour.  In the early
morning following a February 2nd performance at
the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, a small
four-passenger Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft
departed into a blinding snowstorm and crashed
into Albert Juhl's cornfield several miles after
takeoff at 1:05 a.m. The crash killed  Valens,
along with co-performers Buddy Holly, The Big
Bopper|J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, and the
pilot Roger Peterson. This event inspired singer
Don McLean's popular 1971 ballad "American Pie
(song)|American Pie", and immortalized February
3rd as "The Day The Music Died". 

Ritchie Valens is interred in the San Fernando
Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, California.
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at
6733 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, California, and
he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame in 2001.

==Tribute==


In 1988, Ken Paquette, a Wisconsin fan of the
1950s|50s era, erected a stainless steel monument
depicting a steel guitar and a set of three
records bearing the names of each of the three
performers. It is located on private farmland,
about one quarter mile west of the intersection of
315th Street and Gull Avenue, approximately eight
miles north of Clear Lake. He also created a
similar stainless steel monument to the three
musicians near the Riverside Ballroom in Green
Bay, Wisconsin. That memorial was unveiled on July
17, 2003.

==Sample==
*Media:LaBamba.ogg|Download sample of "La Bamba"

==External link==
*imdb title|id=0093378|title=La Bamba