Ritchie Valens

Ritchie Valens ( born May 13, 1941 as Richard Steven Valenzuela in Pacoima, Los Angeles, † February 3, 1959 at Mason City, Iowa) was an American rock ' n' roll musician with Mexican roots. He died along with fellow musicians Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and the pilot Roger Peterson in a plane crash, the ( " The day the music died ") was known as The Day the Music Died.

Origin and career

Valens was from a poor family, and earned his money ( and his mother) as harvest workers (seasonal work ). His half- brother, Robert "Bob" Morales sat for a long time in prison and was, especially by Ritchie's success, jealous of him and alcoholic.

Among the most famous hits in the short career of Ritchie Valens include Come On, Let's Go, Donna and La Bamba. 1987 his life was filmed under the title of his hit La Bamba, with Lou Diamond Phillips in the lead role. In the film, among other things, his mother took a small role. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Also a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is dedicated to him.

Valens has with La Bamba 1958 the only non-English song in the published by the American pop magazine Rolling Stone 2004 list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

Death in plane crash

In early 1959, was the only 17 -year-old Ritchie Valens with other artists on tour. In this tour constantly fell off the heating in the tour bus until it finally lay completely. Valens retired to the night before his last concert on a cold, so he asked Buddy Holly guitarist Tommy Allsup to assign him his place on the plane. Allsup was a coin toss to decide about it. Valens won, an increase on the machine, even though he was suffering from fear of flying. After the concert in the evening in Clear Lake, Iowa, he fell on February 3, just a few minutes after takeoff with an airplane ( a Beechcraft Bonanza ) in a snow storm from. With him, his colleagues Tour Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper, JP Richardson and the pilot Roger Peterson died. His family learned of the terrible news from the radio. Ritchie Valens was buried three days after the accident in his hometown. Valens had already forged shortly before his death, wedding plans to his high school sweetheart, Donna Ludwig (which is the song Donna is dedicated ) to marry.